Opinion ID: 515250
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Invocations Before Equal Access Plan Implemented

Text: 32 The district court declared that the pregame invocation system that was in place prior to the adoption of the equal access plan 12 was unconstitutional. The School District contends that the question of the constitutionality of the invocation practices as they existed prior to the equal access plan was moot and, therefore, the district court lacked jurisdiction to make such a declaration. Alternatively, the School District argues that, if the issue was not moot, the district court erroneously declared the prior pregame invocation practice to be unconstitutional.
33 The School District first raised mootness as a jurisdictional impediment when the district court prepared to award attorneys' fees to the Jagers. The district court rejected the School District's argument because it was not absolutely clear that the prior practice of having religious invocations given by DCMA ministers would not recur. See United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Ass'n, 393 U.S. 199, 203, 89 S.Ct. 361, 364, 21 L.Ed.2d 344 (1968). 34 Ordinarily, the defendant's voluntary cessation of a challenged practice will not moot an action because the defendant is free to return to his old ways. United States v. W.T. Grant Co., 345 U.S. 629, 632, 73 S.Ct. 894, 897, 97 L.Ed. 1303 (1953). In the case at bar, the district court held that: 35 the issue of the constitutionality of the pre-equal access plan practice of pre-game prayer is not moot. In fact, the practice was temporarily enjoined by this court prior to adjudication on the merits. At no point during the hearing on the motion by plaintiffs for a temporary restraining order or during the trial on the merits was the mootness argument raised. Both plaintiffs and defendants have steadfastly litigated the allegedly moot issue. 36 R2-48-3. 37 In arguing that the district court's holding was error, the School District seeks to distinguish Concentrated Phosphate and W.T. Grant. It contends that voluntary cessation in those cases occurred after the complaint was filed, whereas the Douglas County School Superintendent and the school principals decided to implement the equal access plan four days before the Jagers filed their complaint. This argument is unavailing. In Hall v. Board of School Comm'rs, 656 F.2d 999, 1000 (5th Cir. Unit B Sept.1981), this Court held that the defendant school board's voluntary cessation of morning devotionals upon learning that a lawsuit was going to be filed did not moot the plaintiff's Establishment Clause challenge to the practice. The Hall Court noted that the defendant school board had disputed the constitutionality of the practice up to the day of trial, when defense counsel indicated for the first time that the board had no intention of reviving the devotionals. Additionally, although the school superintendent knew that the practice was unconstitutional and had informed the school principals of this fact, he made no further attempt to ensure that all schools discontinued the practice. Id. 38 Hall controls the mootness issue in the present case. Under the imminent threat of the Jagers' lawsuit, the School District voluntarily ceased the practice of having pregame religious invocations delivered by Protestant ministers, and it implemented the equal access plan. However, the equal access plan was merely implemented by the school principals. It was not a formal policy adopted by the School District or the Douglas County Board of Education, and the defendants never promised not to resume the prior practice. 13 In fact, the defendants continue to press on appeal that the voluntarily ceased conduct should be declared constitutional. Thus, as in Hall, the controversy concerning the prior invocation practices is not moot. 39 Because the School District's posture on appeal suggests it may revert to the practices it engaged in prior to the development of the equal access plan, the present case is distinguishable from Saladin v. City of Milledgeville, 812 F.2d 687, 693 (11th Cir.1987). In Saladin, this Court held an action moot where the City voluntarily ceased displaying an official seal in which the word Christianity appeared, and it promised not to display the seal again in the future. Importantly, the Court noted that there was no indication that the City would break its word. Id. Conversely, in the present case, there is no indication that the School District will refrain from resuming its forty-year-old practice of having clergy deliver religious invocations before high school football games. Therefore, because Hall, not Saladin, controls the question of mootness, we will reach the merits of the Jagers' challenge to the pre-equal access plan practices.
40 The School District appeals the district court's declaration that the practice of having ministers give religious invocations violated the Establishment Clause. However, under the Lemon test, 14 this argument is without merit. First, the invocations were prayers, delivered by ministers, and thus fail the secular purpose prong of the Lemon test for the reasons set forth in Part A, supra. Second, the primary effect of advancing religion was clear for the reasons given by the district court: [o]ne of the effects of the prior practices in regard to invocations was to create the appearance or impression that the school system endorsed Protestant Christianity. Rl-24-19. The School District labels this finding clearly erroneous, but such a finding is inescapable where the person giving the invocation was identified by name and, frequently, by church affiliation. Third, excessive entanglement occurred because the School District delegated the authority to deliver invocations and to choose invocation speakers to the DCMA, a Protestant ministerial group. We therefore hold that the prior practice violated the Establishment Clause. 15