2000+Sante+Fe+Independent+School+District+v.+Doe

Sante Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000) Summary of Case. This involved student prayers at football games.The court ruled that prayers were not allowed as they violated the Establishment Clause.

Impact on Education Today. If students choose to initiate their own private prayers off in a corner somewhere, that is okay and cannot be stopped. However, as far as a prayer being said over the loud speaker at a football game, that would be school sponsored and would show favoritism for one religion over another, which is against the Establishment Clause

Prior to 1995, a student elected as Santa Fe High School’s student council chaplain delivered a prayer over the public address system before each home varsity football game. Respondents, Mormon and Catholic students or alumni and their mothers, filed a suit challenging this practice and others under the Establishment Clause of the [|First Amendment]. While the suit was pending, petitioner school district (District) adopted a different policy, which authorizes two student elections, the first to determine whether “invocations” should be delivered at games, and the second to select the spokesperson to deliver them. After the students held elections authorizing such prayers and selecting a spokesperson, the District Court entered an order modifying the policy to permit only nonsectarian, nonproselytizing prayer. The Fifth Circuit held that, even as modified by the District Court, the football prayer policy was invalid.