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The organization that oversees high school sports in Pennsylvania has asked a federal judge to dismiss a religious discrimination lawsuit brought against it by Bishop McCort Catholic Academy of Johnstown.
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, led by attorneys Dana W. Chilson and Austin Hughey of Harrisburg, responded late last week to McCort's lawsuit that was filed with the U.S. District Court in Johnstown.
McCort stated in its amended lawsuit that "It could not be clearer the PIAA has long sought to eliminate religious schools, such as Bishop McCort, from its membership rolls and that such animus toward private religious schools by way of public administrators is fueling the current religious-based discrimination."
Other defendants in the lawsuit include 18 area school districts that comprise the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference.
In August, 12 of the LHAC districts agreed to settle the issue out of court, with a majority of the school districts voting to rescind the controversial Nov. 19, 2025, amendment to the LHAC bylaws that caused concerns in the first place.
The PIAA and six of the districts not part of the August settlement are asking District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand, who presides in Pittsburgh, to dismiss the McCort complaint.
The six "unsettled" districts include Penn Cambria, Forest Hills, Greater Johnstown, Bedford Area, Somerset Area and Westmont-Hilltop.
What spurred McCort's initial concern was a change in policy earlier this year that made it easier to expel LHAC conference members.
The change in policy -- along with rumors that the LHAC had the votes to expel McCort and two other religious-based schools, Bishop Carroll Catholic High School of Ebensburg and Bishop Guilfoyle Academy of Altoona -- led McCort to take legal action.
However, McCort and the other Catholic schools were accepted as members of the LHAC for another four years.
With respect to McCort, only two school districts voted against the academy's continuing membership through 2031.
Therefore, LHAC districts and the PIAA have, in their answers to the lawsuit, maintained there is no standing legal issue that would allow the lawsuit to continue,
In its lawsuit, Bishop McCort argues that those in the LHAC that wanted to remove McCort or the other religious-based schools violated PIAA bylaws and charged that the attempt to remove the schools from the LHAC was discriminatory "to the religious nature of the Catholic Schools."
The lawsuit reported that at a PIAA meeting last December, a separate executive session was held to discuss what was occurring within the LHAC.
The PIAA, in its response, clarified that it and Bishop McCort have not reached any agreements to resolve claims expressed in the lawsuit.
McCort "is no longer faced with the possibility of removal from the LHAC. ... Therefore there is no live case or controversy for the Court to decide," the PIAA argued in its legal brief filed with the District Court last Friday.
The PIAA then explained that while it and its district committees have the power to impose sanctions for violating the PIAA Constitution and Bylaws, that fact does not equate to PIAA's control over its member schools.
The PIAA, it explained, "does not control its members."
Because PIAA does not control its members, the organization had no power to prevent public school districts from voting not to accept McCort's commitment letter, the PIAA explained.
It concluded: "Bishop McCort's claim against the PIAA fails as a matter of law."
It also addressed McCort's concern that while the academy's problem has temporarily been resolved, it fears there is a threat of a "future vote" to expel McCort.
"However, speculative future harm is not sufficient to confer standing (as an issue before the court)," retorted the PIAA.
The PIAA argued also that McCort has no issue under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
McCort, legally, has shown no harm upon which it can base its claim, according to the PIAA.
"Bishop McCort's claims of discrimination are defeated by its own admission that the Public School Districts, as members of the LHAC, did not take any discriminatory action against Bishop McCort. In turn, Bishop McCort cannot maintain a claim against the PIAA for inaction, where admittedly, no discriminatory action occurred," the PIAA's response concluded.
It asks that the judge grant the PIAA's motion to dismiss the McCort complaint.
Attorney Thomas E. Breth of Butler, representing six districts who have yet to settle, on Friday filed a legal brief also seeking dismissal of the lawsuit.
McCort, he stated, has failed to state a valid constitutional claim and its complaint must be dismissed.