Originally published in Lifeline IX/1 (April 1999)

IN MEMORIAM

LLDF Advisory Board member William Bentley Ball, a noted Christian, constitutional scholar and author died January 10 at the age of 82. Mr. Ball was especially known and highly regarded for his views and reasoning in regards to separation of church and state, as well as religious freedom.

Mr. Ball argued nine civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and assisted in many others. His cases included Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), affirming that the State’s demand that Amish send their children to public schools was a violation of their First Amendment rights; and Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills S.D. (1993), confirming that the establishment clause in the First Amendment does not bar a school district from providing a sign language interpreter to a deaf student who attends a Catholic school. In a more recent case, Mr. Ball filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Catholic League in a case against Yale University arguing that forcing Orthodox Jewish students to live in sex-integrated campus residences (including bathrooms) violates their freedom of association and religious liberty.

Mr. Ball practiced in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania firm Ball, Skelly, Murren & Connell. He was well known as an author (Mere Creatures of the State?; In Search of a National Morality: A Manifesto for Evangelicals and Catholics; Education, Religion, and the Courts). He also contributed to journals of social and political thought including First Things and Crisis. He was a graduate of University of Notre Dame Law School. During his career, Mr. Ball served as executive director of the Pennsylvania Catholic Confer-ence, as a board member of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, and was active in the Society of Catholic Social Scientists.

Please pray for the repose of his soul, for his family and for the nation he loved and served.