On The Front Lines
Federal Appeals Court to Hear Arguments Over High School Football Coach's Right to Bow Head, Bend Knee During Team's Pre-Game Prayer
PHILADELPHIA, Penn. - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will hear arguments on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007, regarding the right of the high school football coach to silently bow his head and bend his knee while members of the football team engage in the time-honored practice of student-initiated pre-game prayer. A federal court ruled in July 2006 that officials at East Brunswick School District in New Jersey violated Coach Borden's constitutional rights when they forbade him from bowing his head or "taking a knee" during pre-game student prayers. However, the school district appealed the decision with the assistance of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute are acting as co-counsel for Coach Marcus Borden.
"There is a time and place when student religious expression is both appropriate and constitutionally sound," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "This school district's insistence on forbidding the small gestures of respect Coach Borden desires to demonstrate to his football team is part of an unfortunate national trend to use the Establishment Clause as a justification for suppressing the liberty of individuals whenever matters of faith are involved."
The case arose in October 2005 after officials at East Brunswick High School adopted a policy prohibiting representatives of the school district from participating in student-initiated prayer, which has been a regular part of the high school football team's pre-game activities for over 25 years. However, school officials justified their actions by insisting that while student athletes have the constitutionally protected right to pray, that privilege does not extend to coaches, who are public employees and whose participation would violate the "separation of church and state."
In July 2006, U.S. District Judge Dennis Cavanaugh declared that the school district violated Borden's constitutional rights to free speech, freedom of association and academic freedom when they prohibited him from silently bowing his head and "taking a knee" with his players while they engaged in student-initiated, student-led, nonsectarian pre-game prayers. The District Court also ruled that the school district would not be subject to liability under the Establishment Clause by virtue of Borden's gestures of respect.
However, in challenging the court's decision, the school district, aided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is arguing that Borden has no constitutional rights of expression or academic freedom in connection with his duties as a teacher and coach. Rutherford Institute attorneys have rebutted the school district's claims, insisting that the liberties secured by the U.S. Constitution guarantee Borden's right to offer a simple, silent gesture of respect, whether he does so by silently bowing his head or taking a knee while his players say their pre-game prayer.
