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1
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SYLLABUS
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EXTRACTED KEY WORDS
PRAYERS RELIGION CEREMONY COURT GRADUATION EXERCISE LEE ROBERT PRINCIPLES PETITIONERS HIGH SCHOOL ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE GOVERNMENT WEISMAN UNITED STATES OPINION STUDENT THOMAS BRIEFS MICHAEL AMICI CURIAE DAVID RABBI DISTRICT COURT SCHOOL OFFICIALS ATTENDING PRACTICE AFFIRMANCE CONTROLLING |
Lee v Lee v. Weissman, 112 S.Ct. 2649, 505 U.S. 577, 120 L.Ed.2d 467, 60 USLW 4723, 75 Ed. Law Rep. 43 (1992) Robert E. LEE, Individually and as Principal of Nathan Bishop Middle School, et al., Petitioners v. Daniel WEISMAN etc. No. 90-1014. Supreme Court of the United States Argued Nov. 6, 1991. Decided June 24, 1992. Syllabus [FN*] FN* The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Lumber Co., 200 U.S. 321, 337, 26 S.Ct. 282, 287, 50 L.Ed. 499. Principals of public middle and high schools in Providence, Rhode Island, are permitted to invite members of the clergy to give invocations and benedictions at their schools' graduation ceremonies. Petitioner Lee, a middle school principal, invited a rabbi to offer such prayers at the graduation ceremony for Deborah Weisman's class, gave the rabbi a pamphlet containing guidelines for the composition of public prayers at civic ceremonies, and advised him that the prayers should be nonsectarian. Shortly before the ceremony, the District Court denied the motion of respondent Weisman, Deborah's father, for a temporary restraining order to prohibit school officials from including the prayers in the ceremony. Deborah and her family attended the ceremony, and the prayers were recited. Subsequently, Weisman sought a permanent injunction barring Lee and other petitioners, various Providence public school officials, from inviting clergy to deliver invocations and benedictions at future graduations. It appears likely that such prayers will be conducted at Deborah's high school graduation. The District Court enjoined petitioners from continuing the practice at issue on the ground that it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.SNIPPETS: |
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2
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OPINION
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EXTRACTED KEY WORDS
PRAYERS SCHOOL GRADUATION RELIGION COURT HIGH SCHOOL CLAUSE PUBLIC SCHOOL INVOCATION BENEDICTION FIRST AMENDMENT PRINCIPALS GRADUATION CEREMONY DISTRICT GRADUATION CEREMONIES MIDDLE SCHOOL PETITIONERS PROVIDENCE DEBORAH WEISMAN RELIGIOUS EXERCISE DANIEL WEISMAN UNITED STATES ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE SCHOOL SYSTEM GOVERNMENT NATHAN BISHOP MIDDLE PROVISIONS PARTICIPATION CONSTITUTION KENNEDY |
Lee v Lee v. Weissman, 112 S.Ct. 2649, 505 U.S. 577, 120 L.Ed.2d 467, 60 USLW 4723, 75 Ed. Law Rep. 43 (1992) Robert E. LEE, Individually and as Principal of Nathan Bishop Middle School, et al., Petitioners v. Daniel WEISMAN etc. No. 90-1014. Supreme Court of the United States Argued Nov. 6, 1991. Decided June 24, 1992. Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court. School principals in the public school system of the city of Providence, Rhode Island, are permitted to invite members of the clergy to offer invocation and benediction prayers as part of the formal graduation ceremonies for middle schools and for high schools. The question before us is whether including clerical members who offer prayers as part of the official school graduation ceremony is consistent with the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, provisions the Fourteenth Amendment makes applicable with full force to the States and their school districts. I A Deborah Weisman graduated from Nathan Bishop Middle School, a public school in Providence, at a formal ceremony in June 1989. She was about 14 years old. For many years it has been the policy of the Providence School Committee and the Superintendent of Schools to permit principals to invite members of the clergy to give invocations and benedictions at middle school and high school graduations. Many, but not all, of the principals elected to include prayers as part of theSNIPPETS: |
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3
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DISSENTING
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EXTRACTED KEY WORDS
COURT ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE UNITED STATES TRADITION DISSENTING PRAYER OPINION RELIGION PRACTICES JUSTICE SUPPORT ANTE GRADUATION PRINCIPALS INVOCATION BENEDICTION HISTORICAL PRACTICES GRADUATION CEREMONIES SUPREME COURT ACKNOWLEDGMENT PROTECTION INVALIDATE LONGSTANDING TRADITIONS GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT WASHINGTON CONSTITUTION JUSTICE THOMAS JOIN ACCOMMODATION REFERENCE PROPER READING |
Lee v Lee v. Weissman, 112 S.Ct. 2649, 505 U.S. 577, 120 L.Ed.2d 467, 60 USLW 4723, 75 Ed. Law Rep. 43 (1992) Robert E. LEE, Individually and as Principal of Nathan Bishop Middle School, et al., Petitioners v. Daniel WEISMAN etc. No. 90-1014. Supreme Court of the United States Argued Nov. 6, 1991. Decided June 24, 1992. Justice SCALIA, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, Justice WHITE, and Justice THOMAS join, dissenting. Three Terms ago, I joined an opinion recognizing that the Establishment Clause must be construed in light of the "[g]overnment policies of accommodation, acknowledgment, and support for religion [that] are an accepted part of our political and cultural heritage." That opinion affirmed that "the meaning of the Clause is to be determined by reference to historical practices and understandings." It said that "[a] test for implementing the protections of the Establishment Clause that, if applied with consistency, would invalidate longstanding traditions cannot be a proper reading of the Clause." County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, 492 U.S. 573, 657, 670, 109 S.Ct. 3086, 3135, 3142, 106 L.Ed.2d 472 (1989) (KENNEDY, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part). These views of course prevent me from joining today's opinion, which is conspicuously bereft of any reference to history. In holding that the Establishment Clause prohibits invocations and benedictions at public-school graduation ceremonies, the Court--with nary a mention that it is doing so--lays waste a tradition that is as old as public-school graduation ceremonies themselves, and that is a component of an even more longstanding American tradition of nonsectarian prayer to God at public celebrations generally. As its instrument of destruction, the bulldozerSNIPPETS: |
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4
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CONCURRING
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EXTRACTED KEY WORDS
GOVERNMENT COURT LAWS SCHOOL RELIGION CONCURRING PETITIONERS PRINCIPLES JUSTICE EVERSON CONSTITUTION PRAYER PUBLIC SCHOOL MADISON UNITED STATES ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE JURISPRUDENCE FIRST AMENDMENT NATHAN BISHOP MIDDLE JUSTICE BLACKMUN UNDERSTANDING FREE EXERCISE ENDORSEMENT JUSTICE STEVENS RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION FN1 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RELIGIOUS MESSAGE LEGISLATION PROHIBITING |
Lee v Lee v. Weissman, 112 S.Ct. 2649, 505 U.S. 577, 120 L.Ed.2d 467, 60 USLW 4723, 75 Ed. Law Rep. 43 (1992) Robert E. LEE, Individually and as Principal of Nathan Bishop Middle School, et al., Petitioners v. Daniel WEISMAN etc. No. 90-1014. Supreme Court of the United States Argued Nov. 6, 1991. Decided June 24, 1992. Justice BLACKMUN, with whom Justice STEVENS and Justice O'CONNOR join, concurring. Nearly half a century of review and refinement of Establishment Clause jurisprudence has distilled one clear understanding: Government may neither promote nor affiliate itself with any religious doctrine or organization, nor may it obtrude itself in the internal affairs of any religious institution. The application of these principles to the present case mandates the decision reached today by the Court. I This Court first reviewed a challenge to state law under the Establishment Clause in Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing, 330 U.S. 1, 67 S.Ct. 504, 91 L.Ed. 711 (1947). [FN1] Relying on the history of the Clause, and the Court's prior analysis, Justice Black outlined the considerations that have become the touchstone of Establishment Clause jurisprudence: Neither a State nor the Federal Government can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither a State nor the Federal Government, openly or secretly, can participate in the affairs of any religious organization and vice versa. [FN2] "In theSNIPPETS: |
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