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Today Is Constitution Day, As Contempt Trial In School Prayer Case Begins

By Howard M. Friedman

Today is Constitution Day, marking the 222nd anniversary of the signing of the 1787 Constitution. Liberty Counsel is circulating a press release noting that the criminal contempt trial of the principal and athletic coach of Pace High School in Santa Rosa County, Florida, begins today. They are charged with ignoring a court injunction against faculty-led prayer. (See prior posting.) Liberty Counsel's founder, Matthew Staver, commented: "What a sad state of affairs, when on the day we celebrate the oldest and most enduring Constitution in the world, that honorable public servants are tried as criminals for praying over a meal." Some 61 members of Congress, many from the Congressional Prayer Caucus, sent a letter (full text) to the defendants in the case saying that the country's founders would be astonished that someone would be charged criminally for engaging in prayer. Americans United commenting on the case last month had a different take, arguing that school officials "should be teaching their students to respect the law and the Constitution, not to ignore it when they don?t agree."

Full post as published by Religion Clause on September 17, 2009 (boomark / email).