Supreme Court skips Florida graduation prayer case. (In The Capital).

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take a case dealing with a North Florida school district that allows seniors to elect a classmate to give a prayer or other "message" at graduation ceremonies.

On Dec. 10, the justices without comment announced they would not hear Adler v. Duval County School Board, a lawsuit brought by several students and their families who said the policy violates the separation of church and state.

The Duval County scheme was initially struck down by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in June 1999. The decision was reversed last year, however, when the court's full panel of judges ruled 8-4 that the policy is constitutional. The court majority concluded that since students select the speaker, and school officials do not review the remarks in advance, the school is maintaining neutrality on religion.

After the Duval County policy was upheld, students at one high school elected a classmate who gave an evangelical Christian sermon. In her remarks during the graduation, she thanked Jesus for "dying for our sins" and thanked God for "raising him from the dead three days later so that through your son's death we may be at peace with you and thereby may have fellowship with you."

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief at the appellate level opposing the prayer policy, said the Supreme Court's inaction in the case is disappointing.

"Students should not have to sit through a prayer they don't believe in just to get their high school diplomas," said Barry W. Lynn, AU's executive director. "The rights of religious minorities should never be subjected to majority rule, whether it's by a graduating class or a school board."

The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case does not set a national precedent, and the appeals court ruling will only apply to the three states within the 11th Circuit -- Florida, Georgia and Alabama.