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Keywords

injunctionappeal

plaintifftrialcorporationnonprofitregulationappellantappellee

Related Cases

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan v. East Baton Rouge Parish Sch. Bd.

Facts

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan applied to use a high school gymnasium for a meeting after the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board had historically allowed outside organizations to use school facilities on a first-come, first-served basis. However, after being warned by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare that allowing the KKK to meet would jeopardize federal funding, the Board rescinded its permission and adopted a new policy that discriminated against groups based on their ideological views. The KKK sued, claiming this new policy violated their First Amendment rights.

Early that month plaintiff-appellant, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Realm of Louisiana (KKK), a Louisiana nonprofit corporation chartered August 8, 1975, applied in due form for use of a high school gymnasium to hold what it termed a patriotic meeting on the night of Saturday, November 22. By letter of November 17, the Board granted permission for the meeting.

Issue

Whether the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board could constitutionally condition the use of public school facilities on the political or ideological views of the applicant.

may an agency of the state, consistently with the Constitution, condition the off-time use of public school facilities on the political or ideological views of the applicant, on its membership policies, or perhaps on who may be permitted to attend its proposed function?

Rule

The court applied the public forum doctrine, which dictates that restrictions on speech in public forums must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest and must leave open ample alternative channels for communication.

The nature of a place, 'the pattern of its normal activities, dictate the kinds of regulations of time, place, and manner that are reasonable.'

Analysis

The court determined that the school facilities were a public forum and that the Board's new policy, which discriminated based on the content of the ideas advocated by groups, likely violated the First Amendment. The court noted that the Board had historically allowed various organizations to use the facilities without regard to their political views, making the new policy's selective exclusions suspect under constitutional scrutiny.

Thus, it would be difficult for the Board or any other party to maintain that after-school meetings and similar activities in the facilities concerned interfere, as a general proposition, with their use or are inappropriate to it.

Conclusion

The court reversed the lower court's ruling and remanded the case for further proceedings, issuing a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the new policy until the constitutional issues could be fully developed.

The court reversed and remanded to the trial court for a development of the issues and arguments of appellant organization and appellee school board because there was insufficient evidence on the record for the court to decide an important constitutional issue.

Who won?

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan prevailed in the appeal because the court found that the school board's new policy likely violated their First Amendment rights and that the case required further factual development.

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