Santa Fe -- Doe Santa

Santa Fe -- doe

SANTA FE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

CAUSE of ACTION: In the case of Santa Fe Independent Schools vs. Jane Doe (#99-62), sometime before 1995, a student, elected as the student council chaplain, publicly recited a prayer at a home varsity football game at Santa Fe High School. This denominational prayer upset a number of Catholic and Mormon students, parents and other faculty members, leading to a lawsuit against the high school based on the Establishment clause of the First Amendment which prohibits state and federal endorsement of any religion.

FACTS: As the lawsuit was pending, the school district "adopted a different policy" which included authorizing "two student elections... To determine whether 'invocations' should be delivered" at school-sponsored sporting events and to choose a particular individual to deliver these 'invocations' or prayers. Following the elections which granted permission to recite prayers at sporting events and selected a proper 'deliverer,' the school district changes its policy to only allow "non-sectarian, non-proselytizing prayer" at the school. However, when the lawsuit reached the court system, it was declared that the school district had violated the Establishment clause of the First Amendment ("Santa Fe Independent," 2007, Internet).

ISSUES: The main question in this case is did the Santa Fe Independent School District truly violate the Establishment clause of the First Amendment? The crux of the problem is related to the difference between public and private speech, for the school district maintained that it did not violate the Establishment clause, due to the prayers being "private student speech, not public speech," even though broadcast over the school's PA system at the game. Conversely, the plaintiffs maintained that the school district had "established a governmental mechanism that turned) the school into a forum for religious debate (via) minority views" which are constitutionally "improper messages" ("Santa Fe Independent," 2007, Internet).

RULINGS: On June 19, 2000, Supreme Court Justice Stevens concurred with the majority that "the use of an invocation to foster... solemnity is impermissible when, in actuality, it constitutes prayer sponsored by the school" and in considering that the school regularly provided student-led prayer, this represents "school sponsorship of a religious message" which is "impermissible because it sends the ancillary message to members of the audience who are non-adherents" of the denomination on which the prayer was based, i.e., Baptist/Evangelical beliefs. Also, since the school was part of a government entity, it was viewed as constitutionally inappropriate for the school to sponsor and support one denomination over another ("Santa Fe Independent," 2007, Internet).

REASONING: Clearly, the U.S. Supreme Court was justified in its final decision in this case which found that the Santa Fe Independent School District did indeed violate the Establishment clause of the First Amendment. The majority based this decision on a previous lawsuit known as Lynch v. Donnelly; thus, the court found that the delivery of a religious prayer/message "Over the school's PA system... under the supervision of school faculty... And school policy... explicitly and implicitly encourages public prayer" which technically is not "private speech" ("Santa Fe Independent," 2007, Internet).