Parents engaged in battle with a West Virginia school system that for decades allowed Bible classes in elementary and middle schools won a round in a federal appeals court this week, setting the stage for a renewed legal tussle.

The ruling means that the case will be sent back to a district court and that the fate of the suspended Bible in the Schools program in the public system of Mercer County could be resolved.

“These families can get justice,” said Patrick Elliott, co-counsel with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national nonprofit that joined parents in the lawsuit and works on issues concerning the separation of church and state. “They can get these classes stopped for once and for all. To finally get the school district to comply with the law would be a resounding victory.”

In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel said Senior Judge David Faber of the federal Southern District of West Virginia had erred in dismissing the challenge to the Bible in the Schools program brought by two parents and their children. In their suit against the school system, the parents argued that the classes violated the establishment clause of the Constitution, which restricts the government from favoring any religion.

Faber ruled in November 2017 that because the school district had suspended the Bible class while it re-evaluated the program, the lawsuit was no longer “ripe,” or ready to be litigated. He also ruled that one of the parents and her child did not have standing to sue because the child was no longer enrolled in county schools.

In its 16-page ruling Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit rejected those positions. Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote that the district court was incorrect in treating the suspension of the Bible program as a reason the case could not be heard.

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