On The Front Lines
Rutherford Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court on Behalf of Football Coach Prohibited from Bowing Head During Team's Pre-Game Prayer
WASHINGTON, DC -- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, acting as co-counsel for Coach Marcus Borden, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the high school football coach's right to silently bow his head while his players offer a pre-game prayer. In appealing to the high court, Institute attorneys argue that public school administrators, faculty, coaches and staff do not violate the Establishment Clause when they make gestures of silent respect in response to constitutionally protected student-initiated religious acts.
"If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will mean that high school teachers across the United States will have no free speech or academic freedom rights at all," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "This undermines a time-honored tradition that has less to do with religion than it does athletic tradition. It's a sad statement on our rights as Americans that schools are no longer bastions of freedom."
The American Football Coaches Association has also filed an amicus in support of Borden, declaring that "when the federal courts interpret the Constitution in a way that intrudes into the locker room, invades the player-coach relationship, and undermines a coach's ability to maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect and team unity by showing deference to the prayers of this nation's youth, that concerns the AFCA."
Both briefs (TRI's and the AFCA's) are available.
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. The policy prevented high school football coach Marcus Borden from bowing his head in a silent gesture of respect while his team offered a pre-game prayer, a regular part of the team's pre-game activities for over 25 years. 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. However, the school district, aided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, challenged the court's decision before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, insisting that Borden has no constitutional rights of expression or academic freedom in connection with his duties as a teacher and coach. The appeals court ruled in the school's favor.
In appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, Institute attorneys insist 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.
