Court Opinion

ID: 9465001
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:33:05.536749+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:55.644035
License: Public Domain

BUTZNER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I agree that the district court properly took jurisdiction in this case, but I would affirm the judgment.
Denis J. O’Connell High School brought this action because its exclusion from the Virginia High School League handicaps its students who compete for athletic scholarships and other benefits available to talented athletes. To explain its exclusion of private and parochial schools, the League cited the ability of these schools to draw students from a wider geographic area than public schools and the difficulty in enforcing the eligibility rules for transfer students.
Quite properly, the district court rejected these arguments. The geographic areas from which public schools draw vary widely in size and population. There is ample evidence to support the district court’s determination that the League’s asserted justifications for excluding private and parochial schools lack a factual foundation. Since this finding is not clearly erroneous, it is binding on us. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a).
Moreover, the cases cited to support the League’s policy concern no-transfer rules within an association including public, private, and parochial schools. See Walsh v. Louisiana High School Athletic Ass’n., 428 F.Supp. 1261 (E.D.La.1977); Chabert v. Louisiana High School Athletic Ass’n., 312 So.2d 343 (La.App.), aff’d 323 So.2d 774 (La.1975). No case approving a policy excluding non-public schools from an athletic association has been cited. The fact that the Louisiana association operates and enforces a no-transfer rule successfully without excluding private and parochial schools belies the League’s argument.
Because the record discloses no factual basis for concluding that the League’s exclusionary rule bears some rational relationship to the state’s purpose, I am persuaded that the district court correctly decided that the rule violated the equal protection clause. See San Antonio School District v. Rodriquez, 411 U.S. 1, 40, 93 S.Ct. 1278, 36 L.Ed.2d 16 (1973). The district court also properly held that admission of Denis J. O’Connell High School to the League would not violate the establishment clause of the first amendment. See Wolman v. Walter, 433 U.S. 229, 235-36, 97 S.Ct. 2593, 53 L.Ed.2d 714 (1977). Consequently, I dissent.