Weaponizing Religion Against the Human Emotion of Empathy: A Call to Fight Coercive Settlement Attempts on the Merits

In March 2023, America First Legal filed a lawsuit against West Shore School District in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. In the complaint, the plaintiffs argued that empathy related instruction from the district’s social emotional learning curriculum violated their parental and religious rights. Nearly every headline about the lawsuit included a quote from a plaintiff parent asserting that “Not every human is deserving of my child’s empathy.” At the time of filing, America First Legal and counsel, Wally Zimolong, argued that students in this school district were illegally being subjected to a radical and invasive curriculum. School officials denied wrongdoing in receiving and reviewing the requests from the parent plaintiffs to opt their children out of instruction around empathy. As the plaintiff’s exhibits demonstrate, school officials attempted to understand and respond to the curricular lessons in objection but repeatedly had those requests for additional information ignored. The lawsuit, Brandl, et al. v. West Shore School District, was then filed incorrectly in state court before proceeding in federal court on the asserted constitutional grounds. The case ultimately settled through the development of a more lenient opt-out process but has been heralded as a “win” by America First Legal. The significance of this case is not in the precedential value, as no determination on the merits was issued. Rather, this case embodies a successful strategy by conservative forces wherein they file meritless complaints in the hopes of forcing a settlement that advances the substance of their cause without actual review of the claims—instilling fear in lawyers and educational professionals to act in accordance. In short, these are textbook coercive settlement strategies that are abusing the legal system and rule of law in the name of religious rights. This article serves as a call to action for lawyers and educational professionals to resist settling cases like this and instead defend their policies and laws on the merits. At this time, more than any in our recent history, the United States needs lawyers to stand in defense of democratic principles and counter the weaponization of religion against schools. The stakes are too great to act otherwise. A society that does not value the human emotion of empathy stands to harm the existence and rights of all those who live within it.