Supreme Court declines to hear public prayer case

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to decide a case about public prayer in Florida.

The case, Cambridge Christian School v. Florida High School Athletic Association, considers whether a private Christian school in Florida should have been allowed to broadcast a pregame prayer before a football game in 2015.

“Players were ‘frustrated and confused, feeling like the FHSAA’s decision sent a message that it was wrong for us to use the public-address system so that we could pray together as two Christian school communities,'” lawyers for the Christian school wrote in a brief to the court.

Lawyers for the Florida High School Athletic Association said lower courts held that broadcasting of the prayer could be considered government speech and an endorsement of religion.

“The speech at issue, which came at the beginning of events organized and hosted by the Association at around the same time as the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, and Presentation of Colors, would be closely identified with the government,” lawyers wrote in a brief to the court.

The Supreme Court likely declined the case because Florida now allows schools to make a pregame statement, including a prayer.

“The political branches have remedied the problem CCS brought this lawsuit to address without the need for judicial intervention,” lawyers for the athletic association wrote.

“Thus, while this case involves issues that are important in the abstract, this Court’s review would produce little real-world impact beyond a fact-intensive analysis of circumstances that no longer exist,” the lawyers continued.