Federal appeals court upholds Florida district's graduation-prayer policy

The Associated Press

03.16.00

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ATLANTA — A Florida school system's policy of allowing prayers at graduation ceremonies — if students vote to have them — is legal, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

The ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a policy enacted for Duval County schools in 1993, and affirms a ruling by a federal judge.

Last May, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit had ruled the policy unconstitutional.

However, the full 11th Circuit ruled in Adler v. Duval County that because the policy unambiguously recognizes the "crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion" and private speech that may contain a prayerful message, the policy is constitutional.

"The total absence of state involvement in deciding whether there will be a graduation message, who will speak or what the speaker may say, combined with the student speaker's complete autonomy over the content of the message convinces us that the message delivered, be it secular or sectarian or both, is not state-sponsored," the court ruled.

The court said that to conclude otherwise "would come perilously close to announcing an absolute rule that would excise all private religious expression from a public graduation ceremony, no matter how neutral the process of selecting the speaker may be, nor how autonomous the speaker may be in crafting her message."

The policy was enacted a year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lee v. Weisman that a principal in Providence, R.I., unconstitutionally invited clergy to deliver a nonsectarian benediction during a graduation ceremony.

In arguing before the 11th Circuit last October, William J. Sheppard, an attorney for the policy's opponents, told the court the policy was "deliberately designed to circumvent" the Supreme Court ruling.

Matthew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, an Orlando, Fla., organization that defended the policy, said he was elated by the ruling.

"Students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or freedom of religion when they enter the graduation podium," he said in a statement.

The American Civil Liberties Union said today that it would seek an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. "We are disappointed in the majority decision and believe it overlooked substantial facts that would compel the opposite result," said Gray Thomas, a Jacksonville attorney working with the ACLU in the prayer case.

Update

Federal appeals court again upholds graduation prayer
Student statements at high school graduation don’t violate Constitution, 11th Circuit finds in second look at Florida case.  05.15.01

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Appeals court to reconsider graduation-prayer case this week
Judges to examine Florida school district policy that permits students to vote for graduation speakers who usually offer prayers.  10.18.99