Ethics

ACLU Wins Standing to Sue Over Muslim Charter School

By Ed Brayton

A federal judge has ruled that a case brought by the ACLU against a Muslim charter school in Minnesota can go forward. The school had sought to have the case dismissed on standing grounds, citing the Hein decision. This case is unusual because it is the ACLU itself that is the plaintiff, not representing another client. It is filed against the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy and its sponsor, Islamic Relief USA.

The ACLU is claiming taxpayer standing, something that the federal courts have made more and more difficult to establish as legal grounds for bringing a suit. In general, a taxpayer does not have standing to sue the government for spending their tax dollars in an unconstitutional manner, but there is an exception to that rule:

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on July 24, 2009 (boomark / email).