3d Circuit: High School Coach Can't Pray With Players

In a closely-watched case, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a New Jersey high school football coach violated the Constitution by initiating and participating in student-initiated pre-game prayers.

Marcus Borden, East Brunswick High School's football coach for 23 years, sued the school after the superintendent informed him that his actions during grace at the pre-game dinner and conducting a pre-game "take-a-knee" type prayer had to stop. Borden claimed that the restrictions violated his 1st amendment rights of speech and association.

The case garnered attention during litigation, and blew open when the federal district court ruled in Borden's favor, saying he could bow his head or take a knee when his team captains led the team in prayer.

The odd thing is, while the Third Circuit completely overruled the district court's opinion, it didn't really disagree with that idea.

The crux of the Third Circuit's decision is the way in which a violation of the Establishment Clause is defined:

A school district also violates the Establishment Clause if “a reasonable observer familiar with the history and context of the display would perceive the display as a government endorsement of religion. The test does not focus on the government’s subjective purpose when behaving in a particular manner, but instead focuses on the perceptions of the reasonable observer.

The Court then explained that, while "not every religious display of a school official will have the necessary 'history and context' to be an Establishment Clause violation," Borden's history of picking players to pray, asking everyone to stand for grace, and leading the team prayer before games meant that any continued act by him would cause a reasonable observer to believe that he, and therefore the school district, was endorsing the religious activity.

This case-by-case, person-by-person analysis caused a lot of sparks on both sides.

Borden's lawyer, who has said he will appeal to the Supremes, noted that it was "clear from the Third Circuit opinion...that public school coaches who do not have a history of praying with their players can bow their head and take a knee." A fact that he called "a bit of an ambiguity."

Rev. Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State (who helped defend the district) praised the opinion on this point, saying it would rein in "coaches who want to act like pastors" without overly restraining coaches who just want to support their teams.

HT's: NY Times, ABA Journal

More After the Jump...

Florida's New Guns-to-Work Law Restricted to Cars. Rigged Aston Martin Sales Skyrocket

The Florida state legislature passed a bill earlier this week that would allow anyone in the state with a concealed weapons permit to keep their firearm in their parked car, as long as the car is locked.

For employers, the law overrides the blanket bans most companies have against keeping or storing guns while at work.

The debate, which seems to have been more between the Chamber of Commerce and the NRA than anyone actually voted into office, is whether the employees' Second Amendment rights (a hot button issue in and of itself right now) should trump the company's property rights and interest in maintaining their businesses as they see fit.

In the Miami Herald, the Chamber points out that there is no way for them to know whether their employees have concealed carry permits - the records are exempt from Florida's open info law, and the new bill bars them from asking employees about their status.

In a deftly drafted response, State Senator Durell Peaden of Crestview had this to say (via Reuters):

"The second thing they wrote about in that constitution was the right to bear arms... it was what was dear in their hearts."

See, to me, it's disconcerting when a man whose sole job it is to create and pass laws would not only refer to the premier U.S. legal document as "that constitution" but would presume that they itemized the Bill of Rights in order of importance. Like they sat in Philadelphia and said "Whew. Thank God we got that freedom of speech out of the way. What's next? Housing Soldiers? No, let's do guns..."

Of course, Floridians seem to have more trust in their government than dumb yankee bloggers. Check out the Herald's poll, after the jump.

On the Miami Herald web version of the story, there's a poll with three options:

1. Yes. I own a gun and it's my Second Amendment right to bring it with me to my job.
2. No. I own a gun, but I don't see any logical reason for me to bring it to work.
3. No. I don't own a gun and don't plan on ever getting one and/or bringing one to work.

The results?


I'm honestly not sure what to say about this. I'm usually a pretty "individual rights" kind of guy, but this seems a little... dangerous. Oklahoma had a similar law that was recently kicked by an appellate court there. Alaska, Kentucky and Mississippi have similar laws.

Maybe it's living in Chicago during a year where over 20 high school students have been killed, most by guns (the latest young man was beaten to death with a bat, but in case you were worried about consistency, a man was shot over the weekend at a makeshift memorial for the student.) People here have been talking about giving principles and teachers the right to carry guns.

Anyway, whatever - make up your own minds. Fight about it in the comments. I can't figure it out.

Oh - one more thing. Next to that poll was this ad. One stop shopping on the internet, I guess.

More After the Jump...