Judge Roy Moore and Foundation for Moral Law File Brief in Federal Appeals Court Defending School Board Prayer in Louisiana

March 21, 2007

Judge Roy Moore and attorneys at the Foundation for Moral Law filed a brief today with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit arguing that the words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution do not prohibit the Tangipahoa Parish School Board in Louisiana from opening its meetings with prayer, including prayer offered in the name of Jesus. (Click here to read the brief.)

Judge Moore stated, “Even though Congress and the Supreme Court begin their sessions with prayer, the right to acknowledge God through prayer at public meetings is being attacked in state and local government bodies around the country. If Tangipahoa Parish School Board seeks guidance from the Lord, no federal judge should be interfering in the name of the First Amendment, a constitutional provision meant to protect religious freedom, not take it from us.”

Judge Moore and the Foundation's brief argues that by deciding such cases according to invented judicial tests like the Lemon test, endorsement test, and coercion test, the courts have departed from the original and correct interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The words of the Establishment Clause prohibit only a “law respecting an establishment of religion.” A prayer offered at a school board meeting is not a “law” at all, nor is it anything like an “establishment of religion,” and is therefore not unconstitutional.

Doe v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board started with a lawsuit against Tangipahoa Parish School Board to stop the prayers given at board meetings, and in 2005 a federal district court enjoined the school board from opening its meetings with prayer. On December 15, 2006, a 3-judge panel of the 5 th Circuit narrowed the ruling and held—in three different opinions—that four specific prayers given at the meetings were unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The school board appealed to the full court, which agreed to rehear the case en banc , vacated the panel's decision, and will now reconsider the issue.

The Foundation for Moral Law, a national non-profit legal organization, is located in Montgomery, Alabama, and is dedicated to restoring the knowledge of God in law and government through two methods: Litigation relating to moral issues and religious liberty cases; and Education consisting of forums for the public and pastors' seminars.

For more information about the Foundation for Moral Law, please visit www.morallaw.org.