Helms v. Picard

DUHÉ, Circuit Judge:

I

This case requires us to find our way in the vast, perplexing desert of Establishment Clause jurisprudence. Plaintiffs, as taxpayers, sued Defendant Jefferson Parish School Board et al., claiming that three state and one federal school aid programs were unconstitutional as applied in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. 1 The District Court initially granted Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on some issues. The court then conducted a bench trial on the remaining issues and rendered judgment. When the case was reassigned due to the district judge’s retirement, the new judge…