Prayer in Public Schools

In Lee, a middle school principal in Providence, Rhode Island, invited a rabbi to offer a nonsectarian invocation and benediction at graduation. The principal acted according to the policy of the Providence School Committee (Lee at 581). Deborah Weisman, a 14-year-old student, objected, but the District Court denied her request for a temporary restraining order. Weisman attended graduation, and the rabbi conducted the observance (Lee at 582). Afterwards, Weisman sought a permanent injunction prohibiting any invocation or benediction at future graduations. The District Court applied the Lemon test from the 1971 case of Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602. This is a three-part inquiry that establishes the permissibility of an action. To be permissible, the government action must (1) have a secular purpose; (2) neither advance nor inhibit religion; and (3) not foster an excessive entanglement between government and religion. All three standards must be met or the gove

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dgment" (Lee at 616). Finally, Souter laid bare the petitioners' Free Exercise claim, which was based on the notion that allowing the prayer at graduation simply accommodated the beliefs of the students who wanted the observance. The Court has held that the state can be forced to accommodate religion if doing so lifts a "discernible burden on the free exercise of religion" (Lee at 629). That, however, is not the case here. As Souter indicates, the students who want prayer have no burden here; they can pray before or after the ceremony. "Because they have no need for the machinery of the State to affirm their beliefs, government's sponsorship of prayer at the graduation ceremony is most reasonably understood as an official endorsement of religion" (Lee at 629-30). Souter's opinion proved so compelling that the dissenters did not even try to answer him. In fact, Justice Scalia simply declared that history supported his view, but offered scant evidence to back up his claim (Lee at 632, 640-1). Justice Scalia (joined by Justices Rehnquist, White, and Thomas) began by embarking on a journey through American history, showing that it is "replete with public ceremonies featuring prayers of thanksgiving and petition" (Lee at 63
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Approximate Word count = 2047
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)