Law firm asks SCOTUS to weigh in on Islam curriculum dispute in New Jersey public school district

A Christian nonprofit law firm asked the U.S. Supreme Court Sept. 2 to reverse an appeals court ruling that decided against a New Jersey Christian mother who sued after claiming her son’s public school taught him Islamic propaganda.

The case dates back to 2017, when Libby Hilsenrath found that her 12-year-old son’s middle school in the School District of the Chathams was presenting Islamic beliefs as facts and showing him Islamic propaganda filled with calls to convert, according to the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), which is representing Hilsenrath. TMLC reported that the content was presented to the students as part of a class on world cultures and geography.

TMLC stated in a press release that the students were shown a five-minute video titled “Intro to Islam.” The video contained statements such as “Allah is the one God who created the heavens and the earth, who has no equal and is all powerful,” and “Islam: A shining beacon against the darkness of repression, segregation, intolerance and racism…” 

The video concluded with “May God help us all find the true faith, Islam.” 

According to a May report from NJ.com, the district “explained that the videos were meant to educate students about the basics of Islam and noted that the videos were provided to students, but not shown in class or required to be watched by students.” 

According to TMLC, students were also given a worksheet that included a fill-in-the-blank written profession of the Shahada, which is the statement “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger.” According to the press release, the Shahada is Islam’s “conversion statement.”

After taking her concerns about Islamic proselytization to the school board, which determined that no changes were necessary to the curriculum, Hilsenrath sued the school district in 2018. A district court ruled against her, and in May 2025, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals granted summary judgment in favor of the school district.

In the release, TMLC argues that the school district violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause by favoring a religion “that conflicts with the religious beliefs of parents and their children.” The law firm asks the Supreme Court to reverse lower courts’ rulings in light of its 2022 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which TMLC says established a new test for determining violations of the Establishment Clause. The Kennedy decision upheld the right of a high school football coach to publicly pray on the field after games.  

According to the release, TMLC said that the new test told courts to refer to “historical practices and understandings” when deciding on Establishment Clause violations. TMLC also said that lower courts are confused whether Kennedy overturned other cases that had formerly provided precedent for Establishment Clause suits. Five separate courts have come to at least four different conclusions regarding which test to apply to such cases after the Kennedy decision, TMLC added. 

“If Kennedy espoused a test, courts need to know what that test is. If Kennedy overturned certain Establishment Clause precedents, then courts need guidance as to which cases still apply in the public school setting,” TMLC wrote. “Only this Court can answer these important questions.”