Federal Judge Bans School Prayer Except at Graduation Ceremonies

JACKSON, Miss. — A state law allowing prayer at school-related activities is unconstitutional with one exception, high school graduation ceremonies, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate ruled that the sweeping nature of the law made it unconstitutional, but that past court rulings defended prayer at graduations.

Assistant Atty. Gen. Hunt Cole said the state will appeal.

The law, which took effect July 1, would have let students pray at school-related activities as long as they initiated it. The law also would have allowed voluntary “non-sectarian and non-proselytizing” benedictions and invocations.

The legislation was introduced after a Jackson school principal was suspended for allowing students to read prayers over the school intercom.

The law was challenged in July by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way on behalf of 14 parents and students. They contend the law violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1963 declared school prayer unconstitutional. But a 1992 U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision said voluntary, student-led and student-initiated prayers at commencement ceremonies are constitutional.