BENDER v. WILLIAMSPORT 475 U.S. 534 (1986)

High school students in Pennsylvania sought permission to meet together at school for prayer and Bible study during extracurricular periods. School authorities refused permission on the basis of the establishment clause, despite the fact that the school allowed a wide variety of other student groups to meet on school premises. The students filed suit, claiming violation of their first amendment right to freedom of speech.

The district court sided with the students, invoking the doctrine of equal access enunciated by the Court in widmar v. vincent (1981). However, the appeals court reversed, claiming that allowing the students to meet would violate the establishment clause. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide the question, which it subsequently declined to do. A bare majority of the Court's Justices side-stepped the constitutional controversy altogether by holding that the party who appealed the district court ruling lacked standing.

The four dissenters would have reached the merits of the case and extended the analysis of Widmar to secondary schools. According to the dissenters, not only did the establishment clause not forbid religious student groups from meeting on school premises, but schools had an affirmative duty under the First Amendment to allow such groups access to school facilities on the same basis as other groups.

The decision in Bender allowed the Court to put off indefinitely the question of whether the Constitution requires equal access in secondary schools. While Bender was still in litigation, Congress guaranteed equal access by statute, thus reducing pressure on the Court to resolve the free-speech question.

John G. West, Jr.
(1992)

(see also: Board of Education of the Westside Community Schools v. Mergens; Religious Fundamentalism.)