First Amendment and state higher-education aid
Fourth Circuit keeps Virginia tuition grants off theology majors
The published Fourth Circuit ruling keeps the state program intact for students in eligible majors, including at private religious schools. Judge Richardson wrote separately to say Supreme Court precedent should be overruled, but not by this court.
Bethany M. Hall lost her appeal over Virginia’s tuition assistance program, which excludes majors classified as religious training or theology. The Fourth Circuit said the rule survived her First Amendment challenge.
- Hall challenged Virginia's tuition grant program on First Amendment grounds.
- The Fourth Circuit affirmed dismissal of her case in a published opinion.
- The ruling leaves the grant program in place as to Bethany M. Hall.
- The case turned on neutral eligibility rules, not a direct religious preference.
- A Liberty University student lost her bid to use the First Amendment to stop Virginia's tuition grant program from applying to her
A Liberty University student lost her bid to use the First Amendment to stop Virginia's tuition grant program from applying to her. Bethany M. Hall had challenged the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant Program, or VTAG, as a violation of her free-exercise rights, but the Fourth Circuit left the dismissal of her case in place.
The published ruling means Hall did not win a federal constitutional veto over the state aid program.
How the claim fell short
Hall sued A. Scott Fleming, the director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the civil-rights law people use to sue state officials for constitutional violations. She had applied for VTAG before starting at Liberty, a detail that put her squarely inside the program she was challenging.
The panel, in an opinion by Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin joined by Judges Agee and Richardson, affirmed the district court's dismissal with prejudice from Richmond. The court's answer turned on the structure of the aid program itself, not on any claim that Hall had been singled out for disfavored treatment.
Why the ruling matters
The case draws a line that will matter for other students and schools watching state aid fights closely. Programs built around neutral eligibility rules can survive a free-exercise challenge even when the money eventually reaches religiously affiliated colleges or students headed there.
For Hall, that means the grant program stays intact in her case. For Virginia, it leaves one of its higher-education aid tools standing without a federal court order cutting it back.