It concerns whether the breakaway banners cheerleaders in Kountze High School created for football players to crash though violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.They were in the habit of painting biblical verses on them. Since it is a public high school, such actions can be seen to be a governmental endorse of a particular religious views over others. To avoid lawsuits, the ISD ruled that they could not paint religious messages on the banners, but the cheerleaders sued.
The ISD countered that they could not do so, but the decision by the Texas Supreme Court was simply that a lawsuit filed by the cheerleaders could go forward. There has yet to be a substantive ruling on the merits of the case - that is the actual constitutional question posed by the dispute. Now the process is in place to figure that out.
- Click here for the article.
The East Texas students have been fighting for the ability to cite Bible verses as part of their cheerleading routines since 2012, when the Kountze Independent School District told the squad they could not paint Christian messages on the banners football players ran through before their games.
The district instituted the ban after the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates for the separation of church and state, threatened to sue. Foundation members argued that because the Bible-quoting signs were held by cheerleaders wearing official school uniforms, and at official school events, they were tantamount to school-sponsored religious activities.
The ban didn’t put an end to the district’s legal woes — because the cheerleaders’ parents promptly filed a lawsuit of their own, claiming the ban violated their children’s right to free speech. The squad members came up with the banner ideas on their own, and bought the supplies with their own money, making it clear they were acting as individuals, the cheerleaders’ parents said.
The case has been making its way through the legal system ever since. In 2013, the Kountze district independently overturned its “no Bible messages” ban, but families of several cheerleaders kept pursuing the lawsuit anyway. Eventually, the 9th Texas Court of Appeals threw the case out, ruling that because the policy was no longer in effect, the lawsuit was moot.
On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court overruled the lower court's decision, writing that the lawsuit should be allowed to continue because the ban could “reasonably be expected” to be reinstated.
“The District no longer prohibits the cheerleaders from displaying religious signs or messages on banners at school-sponsored events,” Justice John Devine wrote in the opinion. “But that change hardly makes ‘absolutely clear’ that the District will not reverse itself after this litigation is concluded.”
For the actual decision by the court click here.
