United States Supreme Court (June 4, 1990) in the case of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, 496, U.S. 226, 250, (1990), No. 88-1597 Part III was delivered by Justice O'Connor and No. 88-1597-CONCUR Part II was delivered by Justice Kennedy and Justice Scalia. By this 8 to 1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled to allow the formation of Christian clubs on the campuses of public schools, provided they were student initiated. Students were to be granted identical rights which other non-curricular groups were enjoying:
<There is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the Establishment Clause forbids, and private speech endorsing religion, which the Free speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect.
If a State refused to let religious groups use facilities open to others, then it would demonstrate not neutrality but hostility toward religion. The Establishment Clause does not license government to treat religion and those who teach or practice it, simply by virtue of their status as such, as subversive of American ideals and therefore subject to unique disabilities.
Indeed, as the Court noted in Widmar, a denial of equal access to religious speech might well create greater entanglement problems in the form of invasive monitoring to prevent religious speech at meetings at which such speech might occur. See Widmar, 454 U.S., at 272, n.11.
I should think it inevitable that a public high school "endorses" a religious club, in a common-sense use of the term, if the club happens to be one of many activities that the school permits students to choose in order to further the development of their intellect and character in an extracurricular setting.
But no constitutional violation occurs if the school's action is based upon a recognition of the fact that membership in a religious club is one of many permissible ways for a student to further his or her own personal enrichment.> 1990US002
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
1990US002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). United States Supreme Court, June 4, 1990, Justice Kennedy, Justice Scalia, Justice O'Connor, Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, 88-1597, -CONCUR, part II, p. 4., part. III, p. 18, 496 U.S. 226, 248, 250 (1990) citing McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U.S. 618, 641 (1978) Justice Brennan concurring in judgment. Special Bulletin (Virginia Beach, VA: American Center for Law and Justice, 1993), pt. I. Graduation Prayer. Jay Sekulow, Letter to Mayors (Virginia, Beach, VA: American Center for Law and Justice, November 17, 1992), p. 1. Elizabeth Ridenour, Public Schools-Bible Curriculum (Greensboro, N.C.: National Council On Bible Curriculum, 1996), p. 25.