Posted on 03/01/2005 6:19:33 AM PST by Theodore R.
By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON mmillhollon@theadvocate.com Capitol news bureau
Gov. Kathleen Blanco is stepping into the fray over whether prayer should be allowed at Tangipahoa Parish School Board meetings.
The governor issued a statement Sunday to express her unhappiness with last week's federal court ruling that school boards can't open their meetings with a prayer. Blanco urged the School Board to appeal and offered to file a brief in support of the efforts.
"I believe that such prayers are entirely appropriate, constitutional and in keeping with a practice in our nation that dates back to the Continental Congress," Blanco said in a prepared statement.
The ruling makes it illegal to do what the Legislature and Congress do when they convene -- ask for God's blessing and guidance, according to the statement.
Joe Cook, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Louisiana, which represented the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, encouraged Blanco to respect the judge's ruling and refrain from turning it into a political issue.
"I think it's a shame for the governor of the state to encourage disrespect for the rule of law, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that outline the right to religious liberty and the ban on the state meddling with religion," Cook said Monday.
East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Charlotte Placide supported the governor's stance during an appearance Monday at the Baton Rouge Press Club .
"I think prayer has its place, but I don't think it should be banned (at public meetings)," she said.
Placide says she has no plans to quit having prayers at her system's School Board meetings unless they're ruled unconstitutional by the courts.
The head of the Louisiana School Boards Association said he expects the ruling to be a major topic at the group's annual convention this week.
"I'm going to put it on the agenda," Freddie Whitford, executive director of the association, told The Associated Press.
Blanco was unavailable for comment Monday. She is in Washington, D.C., this week for the National Governors Association's winter meeting.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan of New Orleans stems from a lawsuit filed by an anonymous parent on behalf of his children, who attend a public high school in Tangipahoa Parish. The lawsuit also included objections to prayers before football games at Loranger High School.
The School Board settled the football factor last year by dropping prayer before games and other school events. The settlement left the issue of prayer at school board meetings unresolved.
At the heart of the issue is a legal conundrum -- prayer in the public school setting is unconstitutional but prayer at a legislative session is permissible. A school board, the ruling notes, has characteristics of both settings.
The Tangipahoa Parish School Board meets twice a month in a boardroom at the school system's central office. The meetings have opened for more than 30 years with a prayer led by board members, school officials, teachers, students and ministers.
In her ruling, Berrigan said she couldn't ignore the school Board's connection to public education. Technically, the board is a political body, she wrote, but it also sets policy for and oversees schools.
Berrigan decided that the School Board fell outside the scope of the legislative prayer exception. She then looked at whether the prayer was permissible through a legal loophole that allows such government-sponsored activity. The catch is it can't be secular, can't advance or inhibit religion and can't create an excessive entanglement with religion.
The School Board's prayer doesn't qualify, Berrigan concluded.
The Tangipahoa Parish School Board is supposed to meet this week to consider whether to appeal the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Tangipahoa Parish School Superintendent Louis Joseph didn't return a call seeking comment Monday.
Blanco's executive counsel, Terry Ryder, said Monday he's researching the legal issues raised in the ruling in preparation for possibly filing a brief in support of the School Board.
He said there are a lot of similarities among the school board, Legislature and Congress. Adults comprise all three, he said.
Like the Legislature, he said, a school board adopts guidelines for others to follow. Following that line of logic, school boards should be able to open their meetings with a prayer, he said.
"They ask for God's guidance and blessing," Ryder said. "There's no place better where it's needed."
Advocate staff writer Charles Lussier contributed to this report.
ON THE NTERNET:
A copy of the ruling is posted at http://www.laaclu.org
I'm very supportive of Law and Order -- but sometimes open disrespect for bad rulings is the right thing to do.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan
I checked to see, and this is a clintoid judge.
Civil disobedience with respect to sincerely praying to God anywhere you please would be justified. It is the most basic of American freedoms. If you cannot worship your God freely, all other "rights" are meaningless.
The only way the ACLU is going to be stopped with all of these anti-Religous lawsuits is to challenge them. Lets see them start putting people in jail for praying.
People left for the New World to escape religious persecution. This point needs to be hammered home.
"The only way the ACLU is going to be stopped with all of these anti-Religous lawsuits is to challenge them. Lets see them start putting people in jail for praying."
People can pray anytime, anywhere they please without fear of retribution. Laws are wriiten by legislators, not judges.
Civil disobedience refers to not obeying laws which one feels are unjust. Since a law cannot be made restricting religous expression, there is no law to practice civil disobedience against.
A judge can say it's illegal all she wants. That does not make it so. Only a constitutional amendment can do that.
For once, I agree with Gov. Kathleen "Babbling" Blanco!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.