Vermont school petitions court to overturn athletic association expulsion

Attorneys representing the Mid Vermont Christian School argued before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday to overturn a lower court ruling that barred it from reentering the state sports association. The state expelled the school’s high school girls' basketball team for forfeiting a 2023 game against a team with a male on the roster. The school cited religious conviction in its initial court filing, along with concerns over safety and fairness during the game. As a result, the Vermont Principals’ Association kicked Mid Vermont out of the sports association, which the school’s attorneys argue violated players' First Amendment right to religious practice.

The nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom represented the school and the team’s coach, Chris Goodwin. Members of the girls’ basketball team drove to New York to hear arguments presented to the three-judge panel. Doing what’s right comes with a cost, but it’s worth it in the long run, Goodwin said during a Tuesday interview. Mid Vermont has been denied a public benefit available to all other state schools just because it wanted to play with commonsense rules, ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman said in a Tuesday statement. Cortman hoped the appeals court would rule in the school's favor and allow it to re-enter the association while at the same time continuing to uphold its religious beliefs.

Why did the last judge rule against the school? U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford previously disagreed with the school’s allegations of religious discrimination. Crawford noted that the sports association’s rulebook included a section expressly allowing males who identified as females to play in female teams. The state association’s rulebook applied equally to all schools and did not unfairly target Mid Vermont on the basis of religion, he ruled. He also said the school was welcome to re-enter the association at any time as long as it agreed to the association’s rulebook.

Dig deeper: Read my report from last year for more background on the appeal filing.