She's the one in the middle.
Loyola Today April 14, 2000
Author of Dead Man Walking meets author of Dead Ruling Mocking
Posted on 02/25/2005 8:18:36 PM PST by NormsRevenge
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Congress and legislatures can open their sessions with prayers, but a federal judge ruled Friday that school boards do not have the same leeway.
Ruling in a lawsuit brought by a parent against a southeastern Louisiana school system, Judge Ginger Berrigan said school-sponsored prayers in classes or at other school functions have long been prohibited as a violation of First Amendment guarantees against government-established religion.
School boards are integral parts of school systems, she said.
"In officially promoting a religious practice at its governmental meetings, the board is doing what its schools and teachers cannot do, favor religion over nonreligion and endorse particular religious faiths," Berrigan wrote.
School children whose faiths are different from the majority of students are vulnerable to peer pressure and feelings of isolation, Berrigan wrote. "Even without student participation, the board's policy of opening with prayer is an endorsement of religion," the opinion said.
Chris Moody, a lawyer for the school board, said he believes an appeal is likely. An appeal would go to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which Moody noted has allowed prayer at graduation ceremonies.
The decision was the latest development in a long legal battle over prayer at school functions in Tangipahoa. The lawsuit originally included objections to prayers at Loranger High School football games, but that portion of the lawsuit was settled last year, and prayers were dropped at games and other school events.
The American Civil Liberties Union represented the parent, identified only as John Doe in court documents.
"The court's well reasoned opinion recognizes the ACLU's arguments that parents, children and members of the community should not have to pay the price of religious indoctrination to attend a school board meeting," Joe Cook, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said in a news release.
"The court's well reasoned opinion recognizes the ACLU's arguments that parents, children and members of the community should not have to pay the price of religious indoctrination to attend a school board meeting," Joe Cook, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said in a news release.
Why doesn't this surprise me?
Well, the court would not stop me from resigning from the school board in protest, but I hope the board appeals because this was not what the sep of church and state is about.
As far as J. Doe, the prayer at the start of a meeting is not likely to cause any religious indoctrination. I would guess she is far from any worry on this point. But the law of the land does not mean you can restrict others because what they do may offend you. I would have said, "Get Over It".
And what is to prevent the Board from having prayer before the tap of the gavel?
Where are the patriots who would stand with Adams and declare "Justice Jay has had his say, now let him enforce it!"?
Time for the "Schools Don't Have A Prayer" bumperstickers.
Judge Ginger. Sounds like a bad joke from a soft-core porn movie.
Wonder if she's a Klintstone apointette.
She's the one in the middle.
Loyola Today April 14, 2000
Author of Dead Man Walking meets author of Dead Ruling Mocking
I'm working the old search engine .. ;-)
She's a Clinton appointee. (see the 12 - 1:30 time slot info.)
http://www.tcdla.com/seminars/quad/sched.htm
Judge Berrigan was appointed to the U.S. District Court by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and since 2001 has been chief judge. She received her law degree from LSU in 1977 and then served as a staff attorney for the Governor’s Pardon, Parole and Rehabilitation Commission. From 1978-1994 she was in private practice as a criminal defense lawyer in Alexandria, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, LA.
The legislature could also pass a law stating prayer in any public forum is not subject to judicial review.
I knew a stripper named Ginger once....or twice, can't remember how many times....????? :-)
Clinton appointee, figures. Hard leftist, anti-Anything of Values and Morals.
I don't suppose these school board members have the spine to disregard the judge's ruling, and say a prayer anyway.
When the people let one unelected judge tell them when and where they can pray it's either time for the judges to go or time for the people to accept servitude.
Did Ginger say a prayer before,during,or after her performance?:>)
liberal,atheistic judges...the bane of america
the time will come when the right person, aka Rev. King, will just say "you go to hell"...and the peal will resonate and rise. that'll be the time, and the sign, and people will hear it and that'll be the end of that. just my opinion
Some people can't understand why the rest of us get so steamed up at seemingly piddling little things like this, but those "piddling" little cases of one, 1, ONE person forcing their twisted beliefs onto the majority slowly add up until one day we wake up and wonder where the heck our heritage and then our country went. The answer is that our heritage, and thus our country, was destroyed tiny, piddling bit by tiny, piddling bit.
At the rate our public schools are failing, it seems they would benefit from a bit of prayer. Heaven knows the lefties making God illegal in school haven't done anything improve the quality of education.
In fact, if they spent a fraction of the energy on stressing reading, writing, science and arithmetic as they do on on illegalizing Christianity and pushing multi-linguistic racial separatism under the guise of "diversity", Gaia, Islam and animism, our public school system wouldn't be in the dire straights it's in.
You'd think a group of ADULTS sitting down to a meeting wouldn't be in danger from one little prayer.
It's time that the Congress took control of the tyranny by the Judiciary. It's coming.
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