It would look less like a discrimination claim and more like an exemption claim. Judges tend to naively assume that the calendar is a neutral set of rules, and the sharply different treatment of Sunday and Saturday here would make it more obvious than usual that that just isn't true.
By the way, I was confused about chronology. The complaint was filed, and TAPPS caved, yesterday. There was another story in the Times this morning. Haven't heard the score of the game. On Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:11:44 +0000 "Finkelman, Paul <paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu>" <paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu> wrote: >I am guessing that the leaders of this organization never dreamed of a Jewish >basketball team going to the finals. They never heard of Dolph Shayes or >Nancy Lieberman. > > > >More seriously: If the organization (which includes many Christian schools) >played games on Sundays, would the Hebrew high school be in a weaker position? > > > > > >************************************************* >Paul Finkelman, Ph.D. >President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law >Albany Law School >80 New Scotland Avenue >Albany, NY 12208 > >518-445-3386 (p) >518-445-3363 (f) > >paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu<mailto:paul.finkel...@albanylaw.edu> >www.paulfinkelman.com<http://www.paulfinkelman.com/> >************************************************* > >________________________________ >From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] >on behalf of Ira Lupu [icl...@law.gwu.edu] >Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 6:03 PM >To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics >Subject: Re: Basketball tournaments on the Sabbath > >Today's first semi-final: Houston Beren 58, Dallas Covenant 46 -- final is >after sundown tomorrow evening. > >Thanks, Doug. > >On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 5:48 PM, Ed Darrell ><edarr...@sbcglobal.net<mailto:edarr...@sbcglobal.net>> wrote: >If your position is utterly untenable as a matter of public relations, it may >not matter that the other side’s state action theory is very weak. But they >had to file the lawsuit before common sense could prevail. > >One more demonstration of the value of lawyers. Good news that they've >scheduled the game to fit it in. Good, good news. > >Ed Darrell >Dallas > >________________________________ >From: Alan Brownstein ><aebrownst...@ucdavis.edu<mailto:aebrownst...@ucdavis.edu>> >To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics ><religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu>> >Sent: Fri, March 2, 2012 3:35:05 PM >Subject: RE: Basketball tournaments on the Sabbath > >A somewhat similar lawsuit was litigated by students attending the Portland >Adventist Academy (and their parents) against the Oregon State Activities >Association which is a state actor. After 8 years of litigation, the students >succeeded in their state anti-discrimination claims. See Nakashima v. Bd. Of >Educ., 334 Or. 487 (2008) > >Alan Brownstein > > > >From: >religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu> >[mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu>] > On Behalf Of Douglas Laycock >Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 11:48 AM >To: 'Law & Religion issues for Law Academics' >Subject: Basketball tournaments on the Sabbath > >Some of you may have seen the story in the Times the other day about the Beren >Hebrew Academy in Houston, whose basketball team has reached the state >semi-finals of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools >tournament. The semifinal game was scheduled for tonight; the Academy is >Orthodox and observant, and could not play. The other school was willing to >reschedule, but the TAPPS Board voted 8-0 not to allow that. Most TAPPS >members are church affiliated, and as a matter of policy, it never schedules >games on Sunday. > >Beren parents and students filed a lawsuit this morning in the Northern >District of Texas, alleging unconstitutional religious discrimination, Texas >RFRA, and breach of contract (based on a provision in the TAPPS bylaws). The >complaint’s state action theory was that the game was scheduled to be played >in a public school gym, which is surely not enough. The contract claim looked >stronger, judging only by the complaint. > >Richard Friedman at Michigan tells me that TAPPS caved as soon as the >complaint was filed, and that the game will begin imminently and will be >completed before sunset. If your position is utterly untenable as a matter of >public relations, it may not matter that the other side’s state action theory >is very weak. But they had to file the lawsuit before common sense could >prevail. > >Douglas Laycock >Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law >University of Virginia Law School >580 Massie Road >Charlottesville, VA 22903 > 434-243-8546<tel:434-243-8546> > > >_______________________________________________ >To post, send message to >Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> >To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see >http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > >Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. > Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people >can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward >the messages to others. > > > >-- >Ira C. Lupu >F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law >George Washington University Law School >2000 H St., NW >Washington, DC 20052 >(202)994-7053 >My SSRN papers are here: >http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=181272#reg Douglas Laycock Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law University of Virginia Law School 580 Massie Road Charlottesville, VA 22903 434-243-8546 _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
