Legal News

ACLU cautions Hesperia school board over opening meetings with prayer

By Richard Binder

On Monday, January 11, the Hesperia Unified School District on a policy outlining how invocations should be conducted. In May 2009, board member Anthony Riley argued in favor of adding an invocation to meetings, claiming, "I have never been in an area where there are more churches per square mile than in the Victor Valley area." Adding invocations would be an extension of the community's values, he went on to say.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California thinks differently, and says such a proposal would open the district to "a strong likelihood of being sued."

An opinion by the conservative Christian non-profit Alliance Defend Fund says the invocations would be permissible according to a 1983 Supreme Court case, which upheld that funding for chaplains was constitutional because of the "unique history" of the United States. But the ACLU says a 1999 federal Circuit Court of Appeals case states that school boards are the exception, and the issue is one of prohibition of school prayer.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on January 08, 2010 (boomark / email).