Santa Fe independent school district v. Doe: Establishment clause chaos on the high school gridiron

St. John's Law Review, Winter 2001 by Chanice, Lawrence J

The third prong of the Lemon test stipulates that "the statute must not foster `an excessive government entanglement with religion.' "167 To address this consideration, the student prayer group cases can provide some insight.168 Like those cases, the School District in Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. merely enacted a policy that created the potential for religious student speech on public school grounds. Additionally, both the student speaker in Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. and the student-prayer groups in those cases would be merely supplied with "incidental benefits."169 While the student prayer groups would be provided with a place to meet, the student speaker in Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. would be provided with access to the football field's public address system.

CONCLUSION

In a past case, the Supreme Court declared that "[w]e are a religious people. . . ."170 With its holding in Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist., however, the Court may have totally eliminated any opportunity for states to experiment with speech policies that would allow for constitutionally valid prayer in a public setting. In consequence, time-honored traditions like pre-football game prayer will probably have to yield to the Court's confused Establishment Clause jurisprudence. As illustrated by the Santa Fe Indep. Sch. Dist. decision, clarification is needed to bring order to this important area of constitutional law.

LAWRENCE J. CHANICE^

^J.D. Candidate, June 2001, St. John's University School of Law; B.A., St. John's University.