Rehnquist Rejects `Moment Of Silence' Appeal.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist has turned down a request to stop Virginia's state-mandated moment of silence in public schools.

In a four-page ruling Sept. 12, Rehnquist rejected an appeal to issue a temporary injunction to prevent Virginia public schools from setting aside 60 seconds each morning for students to "meditate, pray or engage in other silent activity."

The Virginia legislature passed the measure last year. The Virginia affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the law, arguing that it was government promotion of prayer in public schools.

The ACLU, however, has suffered a series of legal setbacks in the Brown v. Gilmore case. In July, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the law does not violate the First Amendment. The ruling upheld a December decision by a federal district court judge, who also ruled for the statute.

The civil liberties group had asked the Supreme Court to order the schools to end the moment of silence, pending an appeal.

The case, however, is still ongoing. Despite Rehnquist's denial of an injunction, the Supreme Court has not yet announced whether it will take the case.

The last time the high court considered a similar case, the justices ruled in Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) that an Alabama law man dating a moment of silence in the state's public schools was unconstitutional because the purpose of the effort was religious.