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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Citation:
454 U.S. 464 (1982)Facts
In 1976, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) transferred a 77-acre tract of surplus federal property to Valley Forge Christian College, a nonprofit educational institution operating under the supervision of the Assemblies of God religious order. The property, originally acquired by the Army in 1942, had been used as a military hospital for 30 years before being declared surplus. The appraised value of the property was $577,500, but HEW granted the college a 100% public benefit allowance, allowing it to acquire the property without payment. The college’s stated purpose was to train men and women for Christian service, and faculty members were required to have been “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit organization of taxpayers, learned of the transfer through a news release and filed suit challenging it as a violation of the Establishment Clause.
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