May 21, 2001
Florida court again rules for graduation prayer
___JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (RNS)--A federal appeals court has again decided that students in a Florida public school district can choose a member of their class to give a prayer or other brief message at high school graduations.
___In an 8-4 ruling issued May 11, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the Duval County school policy remains constitutional. The appellate court made a similar ruling last year but was ordered to reconsider the matter after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Santa Fe, Texas, policy permitting students to lead prayers before football games was unconstitutional.
___Writing for the majority, Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus differentiated between the policies in the two states. Santa Fe's policy permitted the principal or other school staffer to have a role in selecting the speaker and what he or she said, while Duval County's policy forbids school employees from reviewing or censoring the two-minute student statements.
___Jacksonville attorney Gray Thomas, who represented opponents to the Duval County policy, said he plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.
___"We can't stand idly back and let the 11th Circuit ignore the guidance of the Supreme Court," said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "When it gets back to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court will clearly see that what the eight judges did was simply disagree with Santa Fe and rule the other way."
___Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel in Orlando, Fla., and a lawyer representing the students who wanted to give a religious graduation message, hailed the appellate decision as correct.
___"Students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or freedom of religion when they enter the graduation podium," he said in a statement. "Schools should not get into the business of censoring students' speech simply because the message is religious."
Get printer-friendly version of this story
Send this story to a friend
News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!