An Alabama law required that each school day begin with a moment of “silent meditation or voluntary prayer”. A student’s parent sued claiming that the law violated the Establishment Clause by compelling students to pray and exposed students to religious indoctrination. The District Court allowed the practice, but the Court of Appeals found the practice to be unconstitutional.
The Court decided 6-3 that the Alabama law was unconstitutional.
| Majority Opinion: (Justice Stevens) |
The criteria used in this case should be that laid out in Lemon v. Kurtzman. The important issue was whether the law was instituted for a religious purpose. According to the state legislator who wrote the bill, the ‘or voluntary prayer’ clause was inserted for such purposes. This fact was clear because Alabama already had a law that allowed school days to begin with a moment for silent meditation. The newer law was expanded the existing law by giving it a religious purpose. Therefore, the law is in violation of the First Amendment and must be overturned.
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Dissenting Opinion: (Justice Burger:)
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Alabama has not "endorsed prayer" with this new statute because the prayer in question is voluntary. "To suggest that a moment-of -silence statute that includes the word 'prayer' unconstitutionally endorses religion, while one that simply provides for a moment of silence does not, manifests not neutrality but hostility towards religion." If the entire statue were to be examined it would be found that there was more of a purpose to a purely religious one.
This decision illustrates the scrutiny the Supreme Court is willing to use to determine the constitutionality of governmental actions. Rather than accept the argument that the inclusion of ‘or voluntary prayer’ was a minor addition with little practical significance, the intentions of the legislature that passed it was enough to demonstrate its unconstitutionality.
| RealAudio of Oral Argument |
[from http://oyez.nwu.edu].
Oral Argument.
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Last modified: 02/16/01
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