Case Brief Santa Fe Independent Essay

Facts In Santa Fe, Texas, students were elected by their classmates to pay pre-game appealingnesss at high school football games over the loud speaker unit that were mainly Christian. A Catholic and a Mormon family felt this was a violation of the establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution. The school district has unceasingly done pre-game invocations before each game however while the sideslip was pending the school district changed their policy, silent permitting student led prayer but non requiring them as they were before. The District Court ordered that plainly nonsectarian and nonproselytizing prayers could be devoted. When the case went to The Court of Appeals, they found that the policy was still invalid. The district filed a writ of certioran claiming the immature policy was non a violation of the initiation Clauses because they could be considered a private student actors line because they were no longer required at all home games and they were non a public speech.IssueDoes a prayer delivered by a student over a loud speaker violate the Establishment Clause?HoldingIn a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that the prayers given by students over the loud speaker doe violate the EstablishmentClause ReasoningThe Court reasoned with the facts that a prayers given at the football field or any sporting event were not private speeches that were authorized by organization policy on government grounds during school events that are funded by the government. As the student is openhanded the prayer there is no open forum as would be the case during public speeches. Without this in place, prayers before sporting events are not considered to be public speeches but are considered to be sponsored by the school. The new policy the school had to elect students to be the spokespersons to deliver the prayers was also criticized, jumper cable the justices to believe the school was still controlling the process.