Virginia attorney general: Minute-of-silence law not about religion

By The Associated Press

09.10.01

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Randolph A. Beales, acting Virginia attorney general.

WASHINGTON — Virginia students are not being forced to start their day with prayers, the state told the Supreme Court in a brief filed late last week.

They are only required to sit silently for one minute, Virginia Attorney General Randolph A. Beales said Sept. 7, and "there is nothing to fear from a classroom of silent, thoughtful children."

Opponents of Virginia's minute-of-silence law asked the court last month to intervene and stop it from being enforced this fall. They said the law violates the separation of church and state and is similar to an Alabama statute that the Supreme Court struck down in 1985.

Beales said that although both laws include the word prayer and require a minute of silence, the Virginia statute is not about religion.

Public school students must open the day with a minute devoted to meditation, personal reflection, prayer or any other silent activity.

"They may read or look out the window. They may do anything they want, or nothing at all. The only requirement is that they must stay seated and silent and not distract anyone else. This is not a lot to ask, and it is not unconstitutional," Beales wrote in the court filing.

Since 1976, Virginia has allowed schools to establish morning silent times. The Legislature made them mandatory last year.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued last year on behalf of a group of students and their parents. A divided three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that the law is constitutional.

"Having suffered this clear violation of their First Amendment rights for over one year, Virginia's public school children should not be compelled to suffer another year or another day," opponents said in the Supreme Court filing Aug. 31.

The attorney general told the court Sept. 7 that an injunction would disrupt operations at more than 1,800 schools where about 1.1 million students are spending a minute daily in reflection.

The Supreme Court has also been asked to accept a broader appeal in the case for the court term that begins in October.

The case is Brown v. Gilmore.

Update

Rehnquist rejects call to halt Virginia's minute-of-silence law
Supreme Court could still decide to hear ACLU’s appeal of 4th Circuit decision.  09.13.01

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ACLU asks high court to block Virginia moment-of-silence law
Students shouldn’t ‘be compelled to suffer another year or another day’ under statute that violates church-state separation, opponents argue in emergency filing.  09.04.01