Court opens door for nonsectarian prayer at Tangi school board

nola.com ^ | 12/16/06 | AP

[Ellesu]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A divided federal appeals court panel issued a ruling that may allow the Tangipahoa Parish school board to open its meetings with a nonsectarian prayer, and opened up a new chapter in a long dispute between school officials and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the school board should be treated like other elected bodies, which are allowed to invoke nonsectarian and non-proselytizing prayers at their meetings.

But the panel upheld a district judge's view that the Tangipahoa board's previous practice of prayer violated the constitutional ban on government promotion of religion. Since that ruling in February, 2005, the school board has not opened its meetings with a devotional.

"In so holding, this opinion takes no position on whether another form of prayer is permissible at Board meetings," U.S. Judge Rhesa Barksdale wrote for the majority. "Instead, it holds only that prayers of the type included in the stipulations do not pass constitutional muster."

The panel sent the case back to U.S. Judge Helen G. Berrigan, who barred the school board from opening its meetings with prayers. The appellate court told Berrigan to amend her injunction considering the new ruling.

The ACLU originally brought suit over prayers not just at board meetings, but at high school football games. That portion of the suit was settled in 2004 with prayers being dropped at games and other school events.

The case has become a hotly contested political issue in Louisiana. Shortly before Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005, Gov. Kathleen Blanco weighed in with a friend-of-the-court brief urging the appeals court to uphold opening prayers. The governor argued that Berrigan overreached in banning the kickoff devotionals.