Court Opinion

ID: 9492070
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:31:19.28806+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:55:05.475032
License: Public Domain

WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in Judge Boggs’ opinion in this difficult case. I do not construe the opinion, however, as the dissenting judge seems to infer, as holding that it is constitutionally permissible for public schools with sizeable Jewish student bodies to close for Jewish religious holidays. That question is not before us. Rather, I see that reference in the opinion as showing that apparently this viewpoint is widespread, and that particular circumstances of religious significance are intertwined with secular considerations. The point is *579that if there is a legitimate secular reason for closing public facilities on a given date, that the chosen date falls at a time of religious observance of some citizenry, does not render the decision to close unconstitutional. Thanksgiving, for example, has strong religious connotations to some faiths; religious services and celebrations may take place on that day, but the public closing and recognition of thanks to the Deity (back to the Puritan heritage) does not render this holiday unconstitutional.
I note also my agreement with the point that a mistaken public official’s action at the outset (subsequently enjoined with costs and fees assessed against the County) does not permanently taint the setting of a spring holiday on the weekend of Easter. I do not perceive public perception of “widespread governmental endorsement of religion” in the action under consideration.
“The government’s purpose need not be exclusively secular ... for a ‘[f]oeus exclusively on the religious component significance of any activity would inevitably lead to its invalidation.... ’ ... [T]he government’s assertion of a legitimate secular purpose is entitled to deference.” Chaudhuri v. State of Tennessee, 130 F.3d 232, 236 (6th cir.1997) (citations omitted). If any endorsement of religion occurred, it was, as in Chaudhuri, “indirect and incidental,” in my view, and was not an unconstitutional action under the Establishment Clause.