IN THE CAPITAL.

Supreme Court Accepts Football Prayer Case From Texas

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a controversy from Texas dealing with invocations before public school football games, a move that puts the issue of school prayer back on the high court docket after a seven-year absence.

The case challenges the Santa Fe Independent School District's policy of permitting students to lead prayers over a public address system before football games and graduations. It was brought in 1995 by two anonymous families, one Roman Catholic and the other Mormon, who protested the practice.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the policy last year as it applied to football games, holding that while student-led prayers before public school graduations are permissible due to the serious nature of the occasion, athletic contests do not merit such solemnizing practices.

The Supreme Court has agreed to accept only the part of the case dealing with prayers before football games, although its decision could be broad enough to affect other types of school-sponsored events. The high court has not heard a school prayer case since 1992's Lee v. Weisman. In that decision, the court ruled 5-4 that public schools may not sponsor clergy-led prayers at graduation.

The new case, Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, will be argued next year, with a decision expected by late June or early July. Look for more details in next month's issue of Church & State.

Ohio School Voucher Order Placed On Hold

Voucher boosters won a minor victory in November when the Supreme Court placed a hold on a lower court order restricting Cleveland's religious school voucher program.

Granting a plea from Ohio officials, the justices ruled 5-4 that a federal district court's preliminary injunction against the voucher scheme would be lifted while the matter is argued in the courts. Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer wanted the injunction left in place, while Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice William Rehnquist voted to suspend it.

Voucher opponents described the Supreme Court's Nov. 5 action in Simmons-Harris v. Zelman as unfortunate, but of little long-term impact.

"The Supreme Court's action is disappointing," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "But it has little significance in the ongoing battle over voucher aid to religious schools. Courts often allow programs to continue operation while legal issues are debated. Since the Cleveland program has been under way for some time, this simply allows it to continue while the constitutional issues are thrashed out in court."

Americans United and other civil liberties and educational groups filed suit against the Cleveland voucher program, charging that it violates the constitutional separation of church and state. On Aug. 24, U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. agreed and issued a preliminary injunction ordering a halt to tuition aid to religious schools. Because the action came just before the beginning of the school year, Oliver later stayed part of his own order, allowing current program participants to attend religious schools at state expense through the semester, but barring new admissions to the plan.

Ohio officials asked a federal appeals court to overturn Oliver's order. When the appellate panel did not act quickly enough, the officials went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

TV Preacher Robertson Urges Revolt Against High Court

Religious broadcaster and Christian Coalition President Pat Robertson added to his record of radical rhetoric Nov. 7 when he urged his national television audience to revolt against the Supreme Court.

After a news segment on his "700 Club" program about school districts posting the Ten Commandments, Robertson railed against the Supreme Court's church-state separation rulings and told viewers to "throw off the shackles off this dictatorship that's been imposed on us."

"If the people of the United States of America -- all across America, in their churches and in their civic groups and in their legislatures -- decide that they're not going to allow the Supreme Court to dominate their lives in the fashion that it has in this nation, the Supreme Court does not have the power to change that," Robertson said. "They are not going to be able to overturn the will of a hundred million American people."

Meanwhile, there are new signs that Robertson's Christian Coalition is still going through turmoil. On Nov. 5, the Coalition announced that it is closing its headquarters in Chesapeake, Va., and relocating to the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Northern Virginia.

The Christian Coalition is still millions of dollars in debt and has lost several key staff persons in the last year, leading many observers to see the move as another sign of serious institutional problems.