What was the Court ruling on the Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe?

Answer 1

By a vote of 6-3, the US Supreme Court held the Santa Fe's policy of allowing student-led, student-initiated prayer at football games violates the First Amendment Establishment Clause.

Explanation

The Santa Fe School District authorized a student elected as Santa Fe High School's student council chaplain to deliver a Christian prayer over the public address system before each home football game. Two Christian students and their mothers, on family Catholic, the other Mormon, challenged the practice as unconstitutional under the First Amendment Establishment Clause.

The school district argued the prayers didn't violate the Establishment Clause because they were "private student speech, not public speech." Further, attendance at a football game is voluntary.

The Supreme Court dismissed this argument: "The delivery of a message such as the invocation here-on school property, at school-sponsored events, over the school's public address system, by a speaker representing the student body, under the supervision of school faculty, and pursuant to a school policy that explicitly and implicitly encourages public prayer-is not properly characterized as "private" speech."

The Court contended that the election process demonstrated two things: 1) "Through its election scheme, the District has established a governmental mechanism that turns the school into a forum for religious debate and empowers the student body majority to subject students of minority views to constitutionally improper messages. The award of that power alone is not acceptable;" and 2) "The issue resolved in the first election was whether a student would deliver prayer at varsity football games, and the controversy in this case demonstrates that the students' views are not unanimous on that issue. One of the Establishment Clause's purposes is to remove debate over this kind of issue from governmental supervision or control."

The Court held that the school district was violating the Establishment Clause by actively endorsing the single viewpoint of the majority through election and ensuring the minority views would be effectively silenced. This practice was not only a violation of the Establishment Clause, but also infringed on the rights of others, particularly cheerleaders, football players, and band members whose attendance was mandatory, who might hold different (or no) religious views. Justice Stevens wrote: "The Constitution demands that schools not force on students the difficult choice between attending these games and avoiding personally offensive religious rituals."

"Nothing in the Constitution as interpreted by this Court prohibits any public school student from voluntarily praying at any time before, during, or after the school day. But the religious liberty protected by the Constitution is abridged when the State affirmatively sponsors the particular religious practice of prayer."

Case Citation:

Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, 530 US 290 (2000)

For more information about the Supreme Court's view on prayer in public schools, see Related Questions, below.