Second Circuit rules Vermont Principals’ Association showed hostility toward school’s religious beliefs
On September 9, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a lower court ruling and ordered the reinstatement of Mid Vermont Christian School into the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) after the school was expelled for forfeiting a girls’ basketball playoff game against a team with a transgender athlete .
The appellate court held that the VPA likely violated the Free Exercise Clause by displaying hostility toward the school’s religious beliefs. The ruling grants a preliminary injunction allowing Mid Vermont to rejoin all VPA-sanctioned extracurricular activities, including athletics, while the case proceeds .
Founded in 1987, Mid Vermont Christian School is a private K–12 institution in Quechee, Vermont, that defines participation in athletics according to its religious teaching that sex is immutable. In February 2023, the school forfeited a playoff basketball game against Long Trail School, citing safety and fairness concerns over competing with a transgender athlete. The VPA responded by expelling Mid Vermont from all sanctioned competitions, including non-athletic events such as spelling bees and debate tournaments .
The VPA’s executive director, Jay Nichols, publicly criticized Mid Vermont and other religious schools during testimony before Vermont’s House Education Committee, questioning whether public funds should support institutions that refused to recognize transgender athletes. The Second Circuit cited these statements, along with the VPA committee’s written rejection of Mid Vermont’s religious objections, as evidence of hostility inconsistent with constitutional neutrality .
The ruling turns on how the Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause works in practice. The clause does not exempt religious institutions from every rule, but it does prohibit the government from enforcing rules in a way that disrespects or shows hostility toward religious beliefs. The court found that the VPA punished Mid Vermont Christian School in a way that went beyond neutral enforcement.
The judges highlighted two main problems. First, Nichols’s public remarks criticized religious schools, including Mid Vermont, in terms that suggested bias rather than neutrality. Second, the VPA’s committee went further by declaring the school’s religious claim “wrong.” Courts typically avoid judging the truth of religious beliefs, focusing instead on whether those beliefs are sincerely held.
The appeals court also noted that the punishment was unusually harsh and procedurally flawed. Expelling the school from all sports, debate tournaments, and even spelling bees was unprecedented, and the VPA skipped its own rules before imposing discipline. Together, these actions led the court to conclude that hostility, not impartial enforcement, shaped the decision.
The injunction does not end the lawsuit but restores Mid Vermont’s ability to compete in statewide sports and academic competitions while the case continues. The district court will now handle the underlying constitutional claims, and further appeals remain possible. For now, however, the school is reinstated in the VPA, and the litigation will move forward in the coming months .
Sidebar: How This Decision Connects to Supreme Court Precedent
The Second Circuit’s ruling in Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders follows a line of Supreme Court cases about the Free Exercise Clause and government neutrality toward religion.
In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018), the Court held that government officials violated a baker’s rights by showing hostility toward his religious beliefs during enforcement of nondiscrimination laws. The Court emphasized that even when a law is neutral on its face, it must be applied without bias against religion.
Similarly, in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021), the Court ruled in favor of a Catholic foster care agency that declined to certify same-sex couples, finding that Philadelphia failed to treat the group’s religious beliefs with neutrality.
The Second Circuit applied these same principles, pointing to statements by the VPA’s executive director and the association’s committee that went beyond policy enforcement and criticized the substance of Mid Vermont’s religious beliefs. The court concluded that such hostility triggered constitutional protections, requiring the school’s reinstatement while the case proceeds.
This ruling shows how lower courts are using Masterpiece Cakeshop and Fulton as benchmarks to evaluate whether state actions cross the line from enforcing neutral rules into expressing disapproval of religion itself.
Tags: Mid Vermont Christian School, Vermont Principals’ Association, Second Circuit Court, transgender athletes, Free Exercise Clause
AI Disclaimer: This summary was generated with the assistance of AI. It is based on the official court opinion in Mid Vermont Christian School v. Saunders (No. 24-1704, decided Sept. 9, 2025)
https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca2/24-1704/24-1704-2025-09-09.pdf