Supreme Court - No Football Prayers
Dateline: 06/19/00
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that public school districts may not allow students to lead pre-game prayers at high school football games.
Finding that the practice violates the constitutionally required separation of religion and government provided in the First Amendment, the Courts 6-3 decision was issued in the Texas case of Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe.
In 1995, four students and their parents sued the Santa Fe Independent School District in Galveston County, Texas over the district's practice of allowing students to elect a student "chaplain" to lead prayers at graduations and football games.
In response to the suit, the school changed its policy by no longer referring to a "chaplain" and by directing the appointed student to deliver a "message or invocation" rather than a "prayer." The new policy also allowed the appointed student to choose the message delivered so long as it was worded to, "solemnize the event, to promote good sportsmanship and student safety and to establish the appropriate environment for the competition."
Last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the school's messages or invocations must be "nonsectarian and non-proselytizing" in nature and also confirmed that student-led religious prayers at football games violated the Constitution.
The school appealed both parts of the Circuit Court's ruling, but the Supreme Court agreed only to decide on prayers at football games and refused to hear arguments on the graduation-ceremony issue.
In 1962, the Supreme Court outlawed organized, school-sponsored prayer in public schools and in 1992, struck down similar prayers at public school graduation ceremonies.
| Online Discussion Group: What do you think about the Supreme Court's decision? |
In the Court's Majority opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens writes, "School sponsorship of a religious message is impermissible because it sends the ancillary message to members of the audience who are non-adherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community."
Justice Stevens continues, "The delivery of such a message - over the school's public address system by a speaker representing the student body, under the supervision of school faculty and pursuant to a school policy that explicitly and implicitly encourages public prayer - is not properly characterized as private speech."
Stevens said the court recognizes, "the important role that public worship plays in many communities, as well as the sincere desire to include public prayer as a part of various occasions so as to mark those occasions' significance.'' But he added: "Such religious activity in public schools, as elsewhere, must comport with the First Amendment."
Joining Stevens in the majority were Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.
Writing in the dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Rehnquist said, "Even more disturbing than its holding is the tone of the court's opinion: It bristles with hostility to all things religious in public life."
The First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of
grievances."
Reference Links
Court Rules Against Stadium Prayer
AP Story of June 19 looks more deeply into the political overtones of the Supreme Court's latest decision on school prayer.Annotations and Interpretations - First Amendment
FindLaw presents links to court cases, interpretations, and scholarly opinions on the 1st Amendment and the "Establishment Clause."
Separating Church and State
A look at current and past legislation and laws involving school prayer and the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools. From your About Guide.
The Court applies these three "tests" to religious practices when deciding their constitutionality under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. From your About Guide.
Does the Constitution explicitly mandate separation of church and state? The original meaning of the Establishment Clause has been debated furiously in recent generations due to judicial activism that spawned the freedom-from-religion movement. A great in-depth analysis by Conservative Politics Guide Ted Gausmann.
The U.S. Supreme Court gives short shrift to the efforts of a public school district trying to find a way to establish a prayer ceremony at school football games. Analysis by Law Guide Paul S. Reed.
Injecting itself into the eternally tangled debate over the separation of church and state, the Supreme Court has ruled that one public high school district's use of "invocations" or "benedictions" before football games is unconstitutional. From US News Guide Clare Saliba.
A new juvenile crime bill passed by the House has included amendments encouraging religious displays in public schools, from Paul S. Reed your About Guide to Law.
Links to resources devoted to the study and preservation of the "Establishment Clause" form Liberal Views Guide Karen O'Brien.
Multi-part look at religious freedom and public schools, from Tammy Todd your About Guide to Alternative Religions.
About Crime Guide Bill Bickel has assembled this great set of instant opinion polls on this and other Supreme Court Opinions.
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