Lee v. Weisman

Facts

Nathan Bishop Middle School elected to include prayers as part of the graduation ceremonies. A student’s father, Daniel Weisman, objected to any prayers for his daughter’s graduation ceremony, but to no avail. A rabbi delivered prayers at the graduation exercises for her class. The Guidelines given the rabbi recommend that public prayers at nonsectarian civic ceremonies be composed with 'inclusiveness and sensitivity,' though they acknowledge that 'prayer of any kind may be inappropriate on some civic occasions.' Four days before the ceremony Daniel Weisman sought a TRO to prohibit school officials from including an invocation or benediction in the graduation ceremony. The court denied the motion for lack of adequate time to consider it. An amended complaint sought a permanent injunction barring petitioners, various officials of the Providence public schools, from inviting the clergy to deliver invocations and benedictions at future graduations. The District Court held that petitioners' practice of including invocations and benedictions in public school graduations violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and it enjoined petitioners from continuing the practice. The court applied the test set forth in Lemon v. Kurtzman: the practice must (1) reflect a clearly secular purpose; (2) have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion; and (3) avoid excessive government entanglement with religion. The District Court held that petitioners' actions violated the second part of the test, and so did not address either the first or the third. The court determined that the practice of including invocations and benedictions, even so-called nonsectarian ones, in public school graduations creates an identification of governmental power with religious practice, endorses religion, and violates the Establishment Clause. The First Circuit affirmed.

Issues

Rule of Law

Holding and Decision

Legal Analysis

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