Drew Dixon
Attorney General James Uthmeier is joining Attorneys General from 17 other states in an amicus brief to allow prayer in school sports.
The legal action has been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Cambridge Christian School v. Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA). The association rejected the school’s request to conduct a joint prayer over a loudspeaker during a football game against another Christian school, as the game was taking place at a public stadium.
“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 news 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.”
The prayer denial came before a state championship football game in 2015. Cambridge Christian of Tampa played in the final against University Christian School of Jacksonville in the Citrus Bowl stadium in Central Florida. FHSAA officials said they felt opening the public address system in the public facility could be interpreted as government approval of a religion.
Cambridge Christian had requested the Supreme Court to review the case in June.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the FHSAA decision based on an earlier case from 2000. Uthmeier and his colleagues argue that decision “was wrongfully decided, fundamentally ahistorical and unjustifiably hostile to religion.” He also says the 2000 impact on the case is “outdated.”
Uthmeier wants the nation’s highest court to overrule the appellate court.
The brief filing argues the 18 states “have interests in ensuring their citizens’ rights to freely exercise their religion and in maintaining the proper line between personal expression that is protected by the First Amendment and government speech that is not.”
The states joining the filing include Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
