The high court case traces to 1995 when two families, Catholic and Mormon, sued the Houston-area district, claiming that school officials engaged in Christian proselytizing and challenging prayer at graduations and football games. But the case is plainly being viewed for its broader potential. In that Rhode Island dispute, the court emphasized that school officials had organized the prayer exercise and that students were obligated to attend the graduation ceremony. Advocates who want students to be able to express their religious sentiments believe the justices will see this case differently because it involves an extracurricular event and prayer organized by students themselves. This is almost the mirror opposite.
Students vote on whether to have a message at games.
University of Texas law professor Douglas Laycock, who with lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union represents the challengers, said that irrespective of who organizes the prayer, students are required to sit through it, violating their constitutional rights. The students chose who would deliver the message. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit struck down the practice last year, ruling that any policy that allows proselytizing benedictions and invocations did not pass constitutional muster. Football games . . . In its appeal of the 5th Circuit court's ruling, the Santa Fe Independent School District stresses that while the football policy doesn't exclude religious messages, it doesn't specifically promote them, either.