United States Supreme Court (June 7, 1993) in the case of Jones v. Clear Creek Independent School District, 977 F.2d 963, 972 (5th Cir. 1992), upheld the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision permitting student-initiated prayer at high school graduation ceremonies, providing a majority of the class votes to do so:
<A majority of students can do what the State acting on its own cannot do to incorporate prayer in public high school graduation ceremonies.> 1993US008
<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.> 1993US009
On June 26, 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court continued to permit student-led prayer at graduation ceremonies by lifting a temporary ban imposed on nine western states by the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Samuel Harris, a student, had challenged Idaho's Grangeville High School's practice of allowing student-led prayer at graduation ceremonies, but the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the case as moot, thereby allowing the practice of student-led graduation prayer to continue.
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
1993US008. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). United States Supreme Court, June 7, 1993, Jones v. Clear Creek School District, upholding decision of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Jay Sekulow, Supreme Court Case Update (Virginia Beach, VA: American Center for Law and Justice, 1993). Student Prayer Wins A Victory At The Supreme Court (St.Paul, MN: The Wanderer, June 17, 1993), Vol. 124, No. 24, pp. 1, 8.
1993US009. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). United States Supreme Court, June 7, 1993, Jones v. Clear Creek Independent School District, 977 F. 2d 963, 972, (5th Cir. 1992), upheld by the Supreme Court; quoting from Westside Community Schools v. Mergens, 496, U.S. 226, 250 (1990). Special Bulletin (Virginia Beach, VA: American Center for Law and Justice, 1993), pt. I. Graduation Prayer. United States Supreme Court, June 26, 1995, U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case in which student Samuel Harris challenged Idaho's Grangeville High School's practice of allowing student-led prayers at graduation ceremonies. Associated Press, "Ban lifted on student-led graduation prayers in Idaho case" (Dallas, TX: The Dallas Morning News, Communications Center, Dallas, Texas, 75265, June 27, 1995), p. 4A.