Summary
The Fourth Circuit held that Virginia’s exemption of religiously affiliated child care centers from state licensing and related regulatory requirements was constitutional under the Establishment Clause. Applying the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Corporation of the Presiding Bishop v. Amos, the court concluded that the exemption permissibly accommodated religious exercise, did not advance religion through government activity, and reduced church-state entanglement. The court reversed the district court’s judgment, dissolved the injunction, and vacated its attorney-fee award.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether secular child care centers had standing to challenge Virginia's exemption of religiously affiliated child care centers from licensing requirements.
- Whether Virginia's exemption of nonprofit religiously operated child care centers from licensing and related regulations violated the Establishment Clause.
- Whether the district court's attorney-fee award should remain in place after reversal of the judgment on the merits.
Holdings
- Secular child care centers had standing to challenge the exemption because their alleged competitive and economic injury was analogous to the injury recognized in Arkansas Writers' Project v. Ragland, where a taxpayer challenged a selective sales-tax exemption.
- Virginia's exemption of religiously operated nonprofit child care centers from licensing and many regulatory requirements was constitutional under the Establishment Clause.
- The district court's attorney-fee award under the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act had to be vacated because the appellees were no longer the prevailing parties after reversal.
Key quotations
“A law is not unconstitutional simply because it allows churches to advance religion, which is their very purpose.” (at 263)
“In sum, applying to these nonprofit facilities the Lemon test as now explained by Amos, we do not discern any distinctions that would justify a result in this case different from that reached in Amos.” (at 264)
Factual background
Virginia required child care centers to obtain licenses and comply with detailed standards concerning programs, space, health, nutrition, discipline, and parental participation. Some churches asserted that their religious beliefs prohibited them from applying for or accepting state licenses for child care programs they regarded as part of their religious ministries. Virginia enacted Va. Code § 63.1-196.3, allowing religiously operated child care centers to opt out of licensing and many regulations while retaining basic health and safety requirements. Secular child care centers claimed that the exemption placed them at a competitive disadvantage and caused actual economic injury.
Procedural history
The dispute had previously been considered by the Fourth Circuit, which remanded for analysis of the churches' free-exercise claims. On remand, the Eastern District of Virginia held that compliance with Virginia's licensing requirements would not impermissibly burden the churches' free-exercise rights and that the statutory exemption violated the Establishment Clause. The Fourth Circuit reversed, dissolved the injunction, vacated the attorney-fee award, and held that the statute was constitutional under the Supreme Court's intervening decision in Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Amos.
Remand instructions
The judgment declaring Va. Code § 63.1-196.3 unconstitutional was reversed, the injunction was dissolved, and the district court's attorney-fee award was vacated. The appeal of Shenandoah Baptist Church from its dismissal was dismissed as moot.