(Screenshot of the amicus brief via MyFloridaLegal.com)
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has joined with 17 other red state attorneys general in an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a case in which two Christian schools were barred from offering a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a high school football championship game.
The case arose from a 2015 game between Cambridge Christian School, a private Christian school in West Tampa, and University Christian School in Jacksonville. The Florida High School Athletic Association banned the schools from reciting a prayer over the loudspeaker, saying that it would violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution regarding the separation of church and state.
The teams did pray on the field, but it wasn’t audible to the crowd, leading Cambridge Christian to sue the athletic association, which comprises member public and private schools and is authorized by the Florida Legislature to oversee school sports.
The case has bounced between the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit over the past decade. A three-judge Eleventh Circuit panel sided with the sports association last year, prompting the appeal by Cambridge Christian to the Supreme Court.
Uthmeier and his fellow Republican AGs argue that Cambridge Christian’s proposed pregame prayer should have provoked no objections about violating the Establishment Clause, and said that the lower appeals court erred by invoking the Supreme Court’s 2000 decision in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, which they insist was wrongly decided and should be overruled.
“The Constitution does not require state-sponsored hostility toward religion — especially not in a moment as meaningful as pre-game prayer,” Uthmeier said in a press release. “We are urging the Court to correct this misinterpretation and ensure that students do not have to hide their faith on the playing field.”
Other officials who have filed amicus briefs in support of Cambridge Christian School include former University of Florida star quarterback Tim Tebow, former Clemson University football coach Tommy Bowden, and former Florida Speaker of the House Will Weatherford.
Also participating are AGS from Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
This story is courtesy of Florida Phoenix.
Florida Phoenix is a nonprofit news site, free of advertising and free to readers, covering state government and politics with a staff of five journalists located at the Florida Press Center in downtown Tallahassee. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
