Ruling Barring U.S. Grants to Religious Groups Stayed

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist on Monday stayed a lower court ruling that barred federal grants to religious organizations to counsel teen-agers about sex and family planning.

In a brief order, the chief justice granted the Reagan Administration’s request for a stay pending an appeal of a lower court ruling that the grants violated the constitutional doctrine of separation of church and state.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Richey ruled April 15 that federal grants to religious organizations under the Adolescent Family Life Act resulted in “excessive entanglement between government and religion.”

Judge Stays Own Order

The judge had stayed his own order until Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year, to allow previously committed federal money to be spent.

But last week Richey denied a request by the Reagan Administration to extend the stay pending appeal to the Supreme Court.

Since Richey had ruled that a provision of the law was unconstitutional, the case bypasses the federal appeals court here and goes directly to the Supreme Court.

In a two-page order granting the government’s request for a stay, Rehnquist said: “The issue seems to me fairly debatable, and I believe that there is a ‘fair prospect’ that the court will ultimately reverse the (lower court ruling).”

Justifying his action, Rehnquist said: “It has been the unvarying practice of this court so long as I have been a member of it to note probable jurisdiction and decide on the merits of all cases in which a single district judge declares an act of Congress unconstitutional.”

Law Offers Counseling

The law, supported by a wide ideological spectrum of lawmakers, provides for counseling of teen-agers to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

The act bars groups from counseling teen-agers to have abortions and encourages sexual self-discipline as a form of birth control.

Dubbed the “chastity bill,” the law was challenged by the American Jewish Congress and several clergymen as an unconstitutional government intrusion on religion.

During the 1986 fiscal year, the Department of Health and Human Services gave religious groups $3.3 million of the program’s $14 million in grant money.

In the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the government is distributing a total of $14.7 million, HHS spokeswoman Lucy Eddinger said.