Appeals Court Unanimously Rules Prayers During Texas School Board’s Meetings Are Constitutional
ICC Note: In a unanimous vote, a federal appeals court has declared that prayers held during a Texas school district’s board meetings are constitutional. The ruling noted the historical nature of praying before public events and a 2012 case which allowed for voluntary prayer during city hall meetings. The American Humanist Association was responsible for the initial lawsuit over the matter in 2015, when they asserted that this type of prayer in a school setting was “divisive and exclusionary.”
03/31/2017 United States (Christian News Network) – A federal appeals court has ruled unanimously that prayers presented at board meetings for a Texas school district are constitutional and do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled 3-0 on Monday that the prayers offered by students during the meetings of the Birdville Independent School District are more like those presented in a legislative body rather than a classroom. It pointed to the nation’s history and longstanding practice of presenting prayer at public events.
“[D]ating from the early nineteenth century, at least eight states had some history of opening prayers at school-board meetings,” Judge Jerry Smith wrote on behalf of the panel on Monday. “And [Supreme Court rulings] show that there was a well-established practice of opening meetings of deliberative bodies with invocations. Such practices date from the First Congress, which suggests that ‘the Framers considered legislative prayer a benign acknowledgement of religion’s role in society.’”
The court also pointed to the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Town of Greece v. Galloway, which ruled in favor of non-coercive prayers presented during city hall meetings in Greece, New York. It likewise noted that students voluntarily present the prayers—not board members, and rejected the notion it is illegal for members of the board to participate in the invocations by bowing their heads.
“It would be nonsensical to permit legislative prayers but bar the legislative officers for whom they are being primarily recited from participating in the prayers in any way,” Smith wrote. “Indeed, the Supreme Court did not take issue with the fact that Town of Greece board members bowed their heads during invocations.”