Judge To Rule If Family Can Sue Over School Prayer Aclu Has Kept Identities Secret Since Battle Started Six Years Ago

Sometime in June, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge will meet with a Madison County family to decide whether they have standing to continue with a lawsuit over school prayer.

The legal battle started six years ago, but the family’s identity has been kept a secret by the American Civil Liberties Union. Lodge will decide whether the family has a legal right to press the lawsuit, which probably hinges on whether they have a student who attends Madison High School.

Prayers at Madison’s graduation have been at issue since 1990. The ACLU contends that to allow prayer violates the separation of church and state. School district officials allow student leaders to decide what to do at graduation, contending it becomes a free speech issue.

Honor students can say a prayer, present a musical number or recite a poem. At this year’s graduation, one salutatorian prayed to open the commencement program, and another recited a poem for closing.

The ACLU maintains the family’s identity must be kept secret, because there have been threats in the community of physical violence against the family.

The school district says it can’t determine whether the family has standing to press the suit unless it is identified.

If Lodge determines that the family has standing to bring the suit, attorney Stephen Pevar says he will move for summary judgment banning prayer and religious songs from graduation ceremonies.

“There will be no need for a trial,” he said. “We have (the school district’s) written policy and the only question is whether it is legal.”

Federal appeals courts have ruled differently on the question. In the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the district that covers Idaho, the appeals court ruled in a Grangeville case that student-initiated prayer was unconstitutional.