Dan Richey - The ACLU Sues Foster and Richey

The ACLU Sues Foster and Richey

Some workers in the program in Slidell in St. Tammany Parish and Lafayette, however, incorporated religious-based themes in the instruction. Therefore, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the GPA for violating the First Amendment "establishment clause". Richey pronounced the suit unfounded and without legal merit because he had already corrected the irregularities cited by the ACLU.

After a 2002 hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Porteous, of Baton Rouge, a Clinton appointee, ordered the abstinence program to halt the allocation of federal funds to organizations or persons who "advance religion in any way in the course of any event supported in whole or in part by GPA funds." Louisiana ACLU director Joe Cook said that Porteous' ruling, which he termed "very well-reasoned, well-written", marked the first successful court challenge to the federal abstinence program.

Governor Foster said that he would take steps to assure that the GPA complied with the law, but he would nevertheless appeal Porteous' decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. "I have always made it clear that the courts will not allow the use of state or federal funds to promote religion. ... It's a sad day when such a worthwhile program is attacked by the very people who are supposed to protect the interests of the citizens of Louisiana," Foster added.

In addition to hosting its own events to promote abstinence, the GPA had then awarded more than $1 million to community groups seeking to promote the same message. Porteous said that the GPA must install an oversight program to monitor the use of its money and to provide written notification to any group that it finds to have misused the funds.

A settlement was reached before the circuit court heard Foster's appeal. The state agreed to require all organizations that received support from the GPA to submit monthly reports verifying that no funds are used to promote religion. GPA officials were also required to conduct quarterly in-person reviews of the organizations that receive funding and to post the following message on its Web site and on promotional materials: "The GPA is a health and education program committed to promoting and publicizing the benefits of abstinence. Under limits imposed by the Constitution, the GPA's funds may not be used for activities, events, or materials that include religious messages or otherwise promote or advance religion."

The GPA was first placed in the Office of Public Health. Foster transferred it to his office in July 1997, when he named Richey to head the operation. Richey was replaced in 2004, when the Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco became governor. She named lifelong Republican, Gail Dignam, as head of the GPA.