The Lyceum is a small, Catholic, college prep school located in the City of South Euclid. In April 2018, the City of South Euclid passed a non-discrimination ordinance prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.
Believing its mission as a Catholic institution may be threatened by the ordinance, the school, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a pre-enforcement civil rights action against the City.
Legal Theory
The ordinance is a neutral law of general applicability. Additionally, because the Lyceum does not claim to engage in any activity restricted by the law, Plaintiff lacks standing.
Status Update
The Lyceum filed its Complaint on April 3, 2019 and followed up with a Motion for Preliminary Injunction on May 7. We entered our appearance in defense of South Euclid on May 13 and filed our opposition to the PI on May 21.
On May 28, Plaintiff filed an unusually lengthy notice voluntarily dismissing the suit, stating that it had filed the suit to seek advice on whether or not the ordinance applied to The Lyceum as a school or as an employer. It declared that our response to its motion had answered its questions, and determined that its operations were not in violation of the ordinance. On May 29, we filed a short response to plaintiff’s dismissal notice to clarify the factual and legal misstatements in Plaintiff’s notice, and most notably to reiterate that nothing in the ordinance, state law, or the Constitution allows The Lyceum to use its religious beliefs as an excuse for employment discrimination. On May 30, 2019, the Court formally closed the case.
