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• District violated teacher’s free speech rights by prohibiting him from displaying classroom banners with religious references [HTML 11,539kb]
  A federal district court in California has ruled that school district officials violated a high school teacher’s free speech rights because it censored his expression that, in its judgment, reflected Judeo-Christian views while allowing other teachers to express views on a number of controversial subjects, including religion and anti-religion.
  
• Local Delaware school board’s policy of opening meetings with a prayer is constitutional [HTML 7,016kb]
  A federal district court in Delaware has ruled that a local school board’s policy of opening meetings with a prayer does not violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
  
• District’s policy prohibiting the performance of religious music at school events is constitutional [HTML 8,157kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (PA, NJ, DE, VI) has ruled a New Jersey school district’s interpretation of its “Religion in the Schools” policy as prohibiting the performing of celebratory religious holiday music at school concerts and programs does not violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
  
• New Hampshire’s Pledge of Allegiance statute does not violate constitution’s religious clauses [HTML 8,269kb]
  A federal district court in New Hampshire has ruled that the state’s statute requiring the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools does not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment or Free Exercise of Religion Clauses.
  
• Teacher who made disparaging comments about religion was entitled to qualified immunity [HTML 5,794kb]
  Having previously held that a teacher, who made hostile comments about religion, violated the Establishment Clause, a federal district court in California has ruled that the teacher is entitled to qualified immunity from suit. C.F., a student in James Corbett’s Advance Placement history course, along with his parents, sued Corbett and the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD), alleging that C.F.’s rights under the Establishment Clause were violated by practice and policy hostile toward religion and favoring irreligion over religion.
  
• Roark v. South Iron R-1 Sch. Dist., No 08-1847 (8th Cir. July 16, 2009) [HTML 4,977kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (AR, IA, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD) has upheld a lower court’s issuance of a permanent injunction barring the distribution of Bibles to elementary school students on school property during the school day.
  
• Corder v. Lewis Palmer Sch. Dist. No. 38, No. 08-1293 (10th Cir. May 29, 2009) [HTML 5,055kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (CO, KS, NM, OK, UT, WY) has ruled that a Colorado school district did not violate a student’s free speech rights by requiring her to submit her valedictory speech for prior review or by withholding her diploma until she apologized for disregarding the policy.
  
• Busch v. Marple Newtown Sch. Dist., No. 07-2967 (3d Cir. June 1, 2009) [HTML 6,628kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (DE, NJ, PA, V.I.) has ruled that a Pennsylvania school district did not violate a student’s or his parents’ free speech or Establishment Clause rights by telling his mother she could not read the Bible to his kindergarten class.
  
• Gold v. Wilson County Bd. of Educ., No. 09-0211 (M.D. Tenn. May 1, 2009) [HTML 5,063kb]
  A federal district court in Tennessee has issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting elementary school officials from restricting religious speech in posters inviting students to participate in a Christian organization’s upcoming national prayer event.
  
• C.F. v. Capistrano Unified Sch. Dist., No. 07-1434 (C.D. Cal. May 1, 2009) [HTML 4,156kb]
  A U.S. district court in California has ruled in an unreported opinion that a high school teacher violated the Establishment Clause when he stated in class that creationism is “superstitious nonsense.”
  
• Harper v. Poway Unified Sch. Dist., No. 07-55224 (9th Cir. Mar. 10, 2009) [HTML 4,139kb]
  In a brief memorandum opinion in a case involving a California district that restricted a T-shirt that expressed religious objections to homosexuality, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA, GU, MP) has ruled that two high school students’ First Amendment claims for equitable and declaratory relief are moot and that school officials are entitled to qualified immunity from their First Amendment claims for nominal damages.
  
• S.D. v. St. Johns County Sch. Dist., No. 09-250 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 15, 2009) [HTML 4,377kb]
  A U.S. district court in Florida has issued a preliminary injunction barring an elementary school’s class practice and scheduled performance of a song titled, In God We Still Trust.
  
• Croft v. Perry, No. 07-1362 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 26, 2009) [HTML 4,856kb]
  A U.S. district court has ruled that the 2007 law amending the Texas Pledge of Allegiance to include the phrase “one state under God” does not violate the Establishment Clause. The Texas Education Code requires school districts to make the recitation of the U.S. and Texas pledges mandatory.
  
• Croft v. Perry, No. 08-10092 (5th Cir. Mar. 16, 2009) [HTML 4,255kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (LA, MS, TX) has ruled that a Texas law that a mandatory moment of silence be observed in schools does not violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
  
• Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum, No. 07-665 (U.S. Feb. 25, 2009) [HTML 7,889kb]
  The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the placement of a permanent monument in a public park is a form of government speech and that a Utah city therefore was not required under the Free Speech Clause to erect a donated monument displaying a religious group’s principles in a park in which there already is a donated monument of the Ten Commandments.
  
• Sherman v. Township High Sch. Dist. 214, No. 07-6048 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 21, 2009) [HTML 3,842kb]
  A U.S. district court in Illinois has ruled that a 2007 amendment to the state’s moment of silence law violates the Establishment Clause and is unconstitutionally vague.
  
• Smith v. Jefferson County Sch. Bd. of Comm’rs, No. 06-6533 (6th Cir. Nov. 24, 2008) [HTML 4,129kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (KY, MI, OH, TN) has ruled that the former principal and two former teachers at a school district’s alternative school stated a valid Establishment Clause claim based on the school board’s decision to close the school and outsource its services to a private, sectarian school.
  
• M.A.L. v. Kinsland, No. 07-1409 (6th Cir. Oct. 7, 2008) [HTML 5,584kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for Sixth Circuit (KY, MI, OH, TN) has ruled that a Michigan school district’s time, place, and manner restrictions on distribution of student materials in school did not violate a student’s free speech rights because those restriction were reasonable.
  
• Johnson v. Poway Unified Sch. Dist., No. 07-783 (Cal. S.D. Sept. 4, 2008) [HTML 7,503kb]
  A U.S. district court in California has ruled that a high school teacher’s free speech right were violated when he was ordered to remove banners from his classroom because of concern over their religion content.
  
• Colorado Christian University v. Weaver, No. 07-1247 (10th Cir. July 23, 2008) [HTML 8,929kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (CO, KS, NM, OK, UT, WY) has ruled that Colorado’s scholarship programs for college and university students attending public and private institutions within the state violate the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Exercise of Religion Clauses because of the exclusion of “pervasively sectarian” institutions.
  
• Krestan v. Deer Valley Unified Sch. Dist. No. 97, N0. 08-194 (D. Ariz. May 9, 2008) [HTML 8,953kb]
  A U.S. district court has ordered officials at an Arizona high school to play a student religious club’s promotional video during morning announcements and to announce the club’s Bible study on the school’s public address system.
  
• Pucket v. Hot Springs Sch. Dist. No. 23-2, No. 07-2651 (May 23, 2008) [HTML 4,868kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (AR, IA, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD) has ruled that students attending a private sectarian school and their parents lacked legal standing to pursue claims based on a school district’s failure to provide bus service to the students.
  
• Cain v. Horne, No. 07-0143 (Ariz. App. Div. Two, May 15, 2008) [HTML 5,710kb]
  An Arizona appeals court has struck down two state voucher programs, finding that although they do not violate the state constitution’s ban on funding religion, they do violate the constitution’s ban on taxpayer funding of private schools. The court found characterizations of the state constitution as tainted by “religious bigotry” irrelevant.
  
• Truth v. Kent Sch. Dist., No. 04-35876 (9th Cir. Apr. 25, 2008) [HTML 5,850kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA, GU, MP) has ruled that a student Bible club has raised valid claims that a Washington state school district violated the federal Equal Access Act (EAA) and Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment by refusing to exempt the club from the district’s non-discrimination policy.
  
• Roe v. Tangipahoa Parish Sch. Bd., No. 07-2908 (E.D. La. Apr. 22, 2008) [HTML 3,894kb]
  A federal district court has ruled that the distribution of Bibles to elementary school students at a Louisiana school violated the Establishment Clause.
  
• Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie Sch. Dist. #204, No. 08-1050 (7th Cir. Apr. 23, 2008) [HTML 6,766kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (IL, IN, WI) has reversed a federal district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction and ordered that an Illinois school district be compelled to allow a high school student to wear a T-shirt in school bearing the legend “Be Happy, Not Gay” for a “Day of Truth” event.
  
• Borden v. East Brunswick Sch. Dist., No. 06-3890 (3d Cir. Apr. 15, 2008) [HTML 4,866kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (DE, NJ, PA, V.I.) has ruled that a New Jersey school district’s policy prohibiting faculty participation in student-initiated prayer was not unconstitutional on its face or as applied to the high school football coach who challenged it.
  
• Curry v. Hensiner, No. 06-2439 (6th Cir. Jan. 16, 2008) [HTML 3,372kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (KY, MI, OH, TN) has ruled that a Michigan elementary school principal did not violate a student’s First Amendment free speech rights when she denied his request to sell candy canes containing religious messages as part of a school project.
  
• Roark v. South Iron R-1 Sch. Dist., No. 06-392 (E.D. Mo. Jan. 8, 2008) [HTML 3,121kb]
  A federal district court in Missouri has ruled that a school district’s longstanding practice of permitting the distribution of Bibles to elementary school students by the Gideons International on school grounds during the school day, as well as its new policy continuing the past practice with minor alterations, both violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
  
• Croft v. Perry, No. 06-434 (N.D. Tex. Jan. 2, 2008) [HTML 4,538kb]
  A Texas federal district court has ruled that the state’s moment of silence law does not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause.
  
• Sherman v. Twp. High Sch. Dist. 214, No. 07-6048 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 15, 2007) [HTML 4,471kb]
  A U.S. district court in Illinois has issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting a school district from implementing the state’s new mandatory “moment of silence” law.
  
• Morrison v. Board of Educ. of Boyd County, No. 06-5380 (6th Cir. Oct. 26, 2007) [HTML 4,774kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (KY, MI, OH, TN), in 2-1 panel decision, has ruled that a student stated a valid First Amendment free speech claim that a school district’s anti-harassment policy had a “chilling effect” on his expressing his religious views about homosexuality.
  
• Doe v. South Iron R-1 Sch. Dist., No. 06-3373 (8th Cir. Aug. 21, 2007) [HTML 4,136kb]
  Pending a decision on the merits of the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has upheld a lower court’s preliminary injunction barring a Missouri school district from permitting the distribution of Bibles to elementary school students on school grounds during the school day.
  
• Doe v. Tangipahoa Parish Sch. Bd., No. 05-30294 (5th Cir. July 25, 2007) [HTML 2,511kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc (with all active judges hearing the case), has ruled that the plaintiffs in a suit challenging a Louisiana school board’s practice of opening meetings with an invocation lacked legal standing to maintain their suit.
  
• Jock v. Ransom, No. 05-1108 (N.D. N.Y. June 28, 2007) [HTML 3,303kb]
  A federal district court in New York has ruled that school officials did not violate the equal protection rights of Native American students by ending the practice of allowing recitation of a Mohawk thanksgiving address over the school public address system and during certain school events.
  
• Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Educ. of City of New York, No. 06-0725 (2d Cir. July 2, 2007) [HTML 4,335kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has lifted a permanent injunction barring the City of New York Board of Education (NYCBOE) from enforcing its revised facilities use policy that prohibits outside groups from using school facilities for religious worship.
  
• Doe v. Tangipahoa Parish Sch. Bd., No. 05-30294 (5th Cir. Dec. 15, 2006) [HTML 6,654kb]
  A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has split three ways over a challenge to Louisiana’s Tangipahoa Parish School Board’s practice of opening its meetings with a prayer.
  
• Stanley v. Carrier Mills Stonefort Sch. Dist., 2006 WL 2710672 (S.D. Ill. Sept. 21, 2006) [HTML 4,924kb]
  An Illinois federal district court has ruled that a parent stated valid legal claims that a school violated her rights by holding event in which students were encouraged to dress in apparel of the opposite gender.
  
• Curry v. School District of the City of Saginaw, No. 04-10143 (E.D. Mich. Sept. 18, 2006) [HTML 5,909kb]
  A Michigan federal district court has ruled that neither a school district nor a principal is liable under Section 1983 for violating a student’s free speech rights, even though the principal unjustifiably restricted the student from distributing religious messages as part of a class project.
  
• Doe v. South Iron R-1 School District, No. 06-392 (E.D. Mo. Sept. 5, 2006) [HTML 9,777kb]
  A Missouri federal district court has ruled that a school district’s policy allowing an outside group to distribute Bibles to elementary school students in the classroom violates the Establishment Clause.
  
• Child Evangelism Fellowship of Maryland v. Montgomery County Public Schools, No. 05-1508 (4th Cir. Aug. 10, 2006) [HTML 8,711kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that a Maryland school district's policy limiting classroom distribution of materials from outside groups based on the type of group, rather than the content of the materials, still violates a religious group's free speech rights.
  
• Borden v. East Brunswick school District, No. 05-5923 (D. N.J. July 25, 2006) [HTML 5,672kb]
  In an unpublished bench decision, a New Jersey federal district court has ruled that a high school football coach’s bowing of his head and kneeling during player-initiated pre-game prayers does not constitute an Establishment Clause violation.
  
• Kiesinger v. Mexico Academy and Central School, 00-1356 (N.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2006) [HTML 7,759kb]
  A New York federal district court has ruled that a school district’s decision to remove bricks containing religious messages from a walkway on school property that was part of a school fundraising project violated the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause.
  
• Lee v. York County School Division, No. 05-125 (E.D. Va. Feb. 23, 2006) [HTML 4,502kb]
  A Virginia federal district court has ruled that school officials did not violate a teacher's free speech or equal protection rights under either the U.S. or the Virginia constitutions when they removed posters with religious content from his classroom.
  
• Skoros v. City of New York, No. 04-1229 (2d Cir. Feb. 3, 2006) [HTML 5,622kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has upheld the New York City Department of Education's (DOE) holiday display policy, which allows the display of the menorah to symbolize Chanukah and the star and crescent to symbolize Ramadan but does not allow display of a crèche, or nativity scene, to symbolize Christmas.
  
• Taetle v. Atlanta Independent School System, No. 05-1632 (Ga. Jan. 17, 2006) [HTML 2,057kb]
  The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that a school district's decision to rent classroom space from a church in order to hold classes did not violate the state constitution's proscription against the use of public funds to aid religious institutions.
  
• The Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York, 2005 WL 3071639 (S.D. N.Y. Nov. 16, 2005) [HTML 5,225kb]
  A New York federal district court has ruled that a school district's refusal to allow an outside religious group to use school facilities on Sundays for religious services and worship violates the group's First Amendment free speech rights.
  
• Eklund v. Byron Union School District, 2005 WL 3086580 (9th Cir. Nov. 17, 2005) [HTML 3,002kb]
  In an unpublished opinion, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that a California school district's use of role-playing in a world history class to teach middle school students about Islam does not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
  
• Newdow v. U.S. Congress, 05-17 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 14, 2005) [HTML 3,699kb]
  A California federal district court has ruled that a school district's policy requiring classroom recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
  
• Dobrich v. Walls, 2005 WL 1812933 (D. Del. Aug. 2, 2005) [HTML 5,258kb]
  A Delaware federal district court has ruled that individual school board members enjoy absolute legislative immunity from a lawsuit brought by parents alleging that the board had developed, adopted, or implemented policies, practices, and customs permitting religious worship and prayer in the district's schools in violation of U.S. Constitution's Establishment and Free Exercise of Religion Clauses.
  
• Myers v. Loudoun County Public Schools, No. 03-1364 (4th Cir. Aug. 10, 2005) [HTML 4,167kb]
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that Virginia's statute mandating that school boards require the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in classrooms does not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
  
• Van Orden v. Perry, No. 03-1500 (U.S. June 27, 2005) [HTML 3,495kb]
  The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a Ten Commandments display on the grounds of the Texas state capitol does not violate the Establishment Clause.
  
• McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, No. 03-1693 (U.S. June 27, 2005) [HTML 4,961kb]
  The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that two courthouse displays of the Ten Commandments violate the Establishment Clause.