New Orleans court looks at whether school boards can open their meetings with a prayer
A federal appeals court in New Orleans is taking a second look at whether boards that run public school systems can open their meetings with a prayer, as Congress and state legislatures do—and whether the prayer can mention Christ. The case involves the Tangipahoa Parish School Board, which the American Civil Liberties Union sued in 1999 over prayers and religious activities on school campuses and athletic events as well as school board meetings. The two sides reached a settlement three years ago about prayers on campus and at the start of graduations or athletic events. But the school board contends that, as an elected public body, it should be able to open with prayer. Late last year, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a complicated, divided ruling that said nonsectarian prayers are OK at school board meetings. Two of the judges said the prayers described as typical crossed the boundary between church and state, but disagreed about why and which Supreme Court ruling applied. The third judge said the board was entirely within its constitutional rights. Both sides asked for a rehearing by all 15 judges of the 5th Circuit. In the packed courtroom Mike Johnson of the Alliance Defense Fund, representing the school board, said anyone can provide the prayer, but nobody who isn't Christian has ever asked to. "How many non-Christian churches are there in Tangipahoa?" asked Judge E. Grady Jolly. Mr. Johnson didn't know. There were hints the court’s decision might not deal with the merits of the case. Much of the arguments dealt with whether the anonymous plaintiffs, listed as John Doe and his sons James and Jack, could prove they had attended board meetings, and whether that mattered. Their case should be thrown out, because they cannot prove they heard the prayers to be offended by them, Mr. Johnson said. Judge Rhesa Barksdale described that contention as a "12th-hour conversion," noting that Mr. Johnson never mentioned it until the full 5th Circuit asked about it. Ronald Wilson said the Does would have testified or provided a sworn statement about their attendance, had they been asked.
New Orleans Times-Picayune
By Janet McConnaughey (AP)
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: When the Fifth Circuit granted the en banc rehearing, it vacated the previous decision by the three-judge panel. A summary of that decision, along with links to a summary of the district court’s decision and other background information, is posted below. A brief overview of the law on school board invocations, with practical tips, is provided in the NSBA legal Q&A document at the second link.]
[NSBA School Law pages on Doe v. Tangipahoa Parish Sch. Bd.]
[Leadership Insider on school law questions]