Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion

by David Barton

  20. ACLU of Kentucky v. Grayson County, 2002 WL 1558688 (W.D. Ky. May 13, 2002).

  21. ACLU of Tennessee v. Rutherford County, 209 F. Supp. 2d 799 (M.D. Tenn. 2002).

  22. Notes to pages 15-16 Turner v. Habersham County, 290 F. Supp. 2d 1362 (N.D. Ga. 2003).

  23. McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky, 545 U.S. 844 (2005).

  24. Warsaw v. Tehachapi, No. CV F-90-404 (Cal. 1990).

  25. Friedman v. Board of County Commissioners, 781 F.2d 777 (10th Cir. 1985).

  26. Harris v. City of Zion, 927 F.2d 1401 (7th Cir. 1991).

  27. Kuhn v. City of Rolling Meadows, 927 F.2d 1401 (7th Cir. 1991).

  28. Robinson v. City of Edmond, 68 F.3d 1226 (10th Cir. 1995).

  29. ACLU of Ohio v. City of Stow, 29 F. Supp. 2d 845 (N.D. Ohio 1998).

  30. Webb v. City of Republic, 55 F. Supp. 2d 994 (W.D. Mo. 1999)

  31. ACLU v. City of Birmingham, 791 F.2d 1561 (6th Cir. 1986).

  32. County of Allegheny v. ACLU, 492 U.S. 573 (1989).

  33. Amancio v. Town of Somerset, 28 F. Supp. 2d 677 (D. Mass. 1998).

  34. ACLU of New Jersey v. Schundler, 104 F.3d 1435 (3d Cir. 1997) and ACLU of New Jersey v. Schundler, 168 F.3d 92 (3d Cir. 1999).

  35. ACLU v. City of Florissant, 186 F.3d 1095 (8th Cir. 1999).

  36. Doe v. Santa Fe Independent School District, No. G-95-176 (S.D. Tex. May 5, 1995) (court transcription of verbal ruling by federal judge Samuel Kent, pp. 3-4).

  37. Furley v. Aledo Independent School District, No. 4:99-CV-0416-A (N.D. Tex. Oct. 21, 1999), aff’d without opinion, 218 F.3d 743 (5th Cir. 2000); “5th Circuit dismisses case of edited graduation prayer,” Corpus Christi Caller Times, May 31, 2000 (at: http://www.coastalbendhealth.com/2000/may/31/today/texas_me/1336.html); “School District gets Sued over Prayer Policy,” Amarillo Globe-News, May 29, 1999 (at: www.amarillo.com/stories/052999/tex_LD0623.002.shtml); see also “Standing ovation for taking a stand on faith,” Levitt Letter, October 1999: Vol. 21, Number 10 (at: http://www.levitt.com/newsletters/1999-10.html).

  38. Bacus v. Palo Verde Unified School District, 52 Fed. Appx. 355 (9th Cir. 2002) (unpublished).

  39. Rubin v. City of Burbank, 124 Cal. Rptr. 2d 867 (Cal. Ct. App. 2002).

  40. Wynne v. Town of Great Falls, 376 F.3d 292 (4th Cir. 2004).

  41. Hinrichs v. Bosma, 400 F. Supp. 2d 1103 (S.D. Ind. 2005). (Later reversed due to lack of standing in Hinrichs v. Bosma, Nos. 05-4604 & 05-4781 (7th Cir. Oct. 30, 2007)).

  42. Doe v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board, No. 05-30294 (5th Cir. 2006). (Vacated for lack of standing en banc in No. 05-30294) (5th Cir. July 25, 2007).

  43. Turner v. City Council, No. 306-CV-23 (E.D. Va. Aug. 3, 2006).

  44. Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 43-44, n. 22 (1985).

  45. Conrad deFiebre, “Suit Claims Man’s Religious Freedom is Being Thwarted; A Revenue Employee Says He’s Not Allowed to Display Signs on His Car or Cubicle,” Star Tribune (Minneapolis), July 2, 2004, p. 3B.

  46. Diane Lynne, “Petition posted to defend ‘God Bless America!’; Effort to aid honor guardsman fired for blessings at flag ceremony,” WorldNetDaily, January 31, 2003 (at: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30640); “‘God bless’ spells trouble for Guardsman; Superiors give his job back but still bar him from uttering phrase,” WorldNetDaily, August 22, 2003 (at: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34213).

  47. Olean Times Herald, April 6, 1992, p. A-1; see also State v. George T. Broxson, Case No. 90-02930 CF (1st Jud. Cir. Ct., Walton County, Fla. 1992).

  48. “Seniors sue after city stifles sermons at community center,” Associated Press, October 31, 2003; Terry Eastland, “The Justice Department is finally taking religious discrimination seriously,” Weekly Standard, January 15, 2004 (at: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/599kpgpv.asp); “Dallas suburb, senior citizens settle religious-rights case,” Associated Press, January 9, 2004; see also Robert Longley, “Texas Seniors Win Religious Speech Battle,” About.com (at: http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/usconstitution/a/seniorswin.htm); “Seniors Win in the Suit against City of Balch Springs: Judgment Filed Today,” Liberty Legal Institute, January 8, 2004 (at: http://www.libertylegal.org/Media_Archives_2004_Jan8SeniorsWinSuit.aspx). The hostility of the officials was eventually overturned in J.B. Barton v. City of Balch Springs, No. 3:03-CV-2258-G (N.D. Tex. 2004); see also Church on the Rock v. City of Albuquerque, 84 F.3d 1273 (10th Cir. 1996).

  49. Although the plaintiff eventually prevailed, the following case details the facts of the incident and the hostility of the library officials: Draper v. Logan County Public Library, 403 F. Supp. 2d 608 (W.D. Ky. 2005).

  50. The following case details the facts of the incident and the hostility of the school officials: Nichol v. Arin Intermediate Unit 28, 268 F. Supp. 2d 536 (W.D. Pa. 2003).

  51. Iverson v. Forbes, 93-3-232 (Or. Cir. Ct. 1993); Reidenbach v. Pethtel, 3:93-CV-632-RLW (E.D. Va. 1993); Bebout v. Leimbaugh, 2:93-CV-01079-BSJ (D. Utah 1993); see also “Bible Reference Deemed Too Offensive for Vanity Tags,” CNSNews, June 21, 2001; and “Bible References Too Offensive For DMV,” Maranatha Christian News Service, June 22, 2001 (at: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/01a/20010622b.shtml).

  52. The following cases detail the facts surrounding the refusal of officials to permit handing out religious literature or preaching on public sidewalks: Colston v. Crowley Independent School District, No. 4:06-CV-00097 (N.D. Tex. June 20, 2006); Hodges v. City of Lebanon, No. 1:03-cv-00596 (S.D. Ind. 2003); Parks v. Finan, 385 F.3d 694 (6th Cir. 2004); Baumann v. City of Cumming, 2:07-CV-0095 (N.D. Ga. Feb. 27, 2008); and Pulver v. City of Hastings, 4:07-cv-03006 (D. Neb. Feb. 4, 2008).

  53. “No room at the inn: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, wise men barred from Memphis library display,” Alliance Defense Fund, December 5, 2005 (at: http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3617); see also a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund to the Memphis/Shelby County Public Library, December 5, 2005 (at: www.telladf.org/UserDocs/BroadmoorLetter.pdf); “Nativity scene reborn at Memphis library,” Alliance Defense Fund, December 8, 2005 (at: http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=3620).

  54. See Carrie Antlfinger, “UW-Eau Claire is reviewing legalities of Bible study ban,” Associated Press, November 3, 2005; and Michael Gendall, “Campus dorm policy under review,” The Badger Herald, November 10, 2005 (at: http://badgerherald.com/news/2005/11/10/campus_dorm_policy_u.php); settled in Steiger v. Lord-Larson, No. 05-C-0700-S (W.D. Wis. Mar. 2006).

  55. Commonwealth v. Chambers; 599 A.2d 630, 643-644 (Pa. 1991).

  56. Joki v. Board of Education of the Schuylerville Central School District, 745 F. Supp. 823 (N.D N.Y. 1990).

  57. C. H. v. Oliva, 226 F.3d 198 (3rd Cir. 2000).

  58. Fleming v. Jefferson County School District, R-1, 298 F.3d 918 (10th Cir. 2002).

  59. Peck v. Baldwinsville Central School District, 99-CV-1847 (N.D.N.Y. August 16, 2004) (later remanded on free speech claim at 426 F.3d 617 (2d Cir. 2005)).

  60. Bannon v. School District of Palm Beach County, 387 F.3d 1208 (11th Cir. 2004).

  61. “Judicial Jihad: Judge Rules Islamic Education OK in California Classrooms,” WorldNetDaily, December 13, 2003 (at: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36118); Eklund v. Byron Unified School District, No. C 02-3004 PJH (N.D. Cal. 2003), aff’d, 154 Fed. Appx. 648 (9th Cir. 2005) (unpublished).

  62. Newdow v. U.S. Congress, 292 F.3d 597 (9th Cir. 2002).

  63. Chandler v. James, CV 96-D-169-N, pp. 3-4, 6-7, 15. (M.D. Ala. Oct. 29, 1997) (Permanent injuction).

  64. Fleming v. Jefferson County School District, R-1, 298 F.3d 918 (10th Cir. 2002).

  65. Washegesic v. Bloomingdale Public School, 813 F. Supp. 559 (W.D. Mich. 1993), aff’d, 22 F. 3d 679 (6th Cir. 1994).

  66. Sklar v. Harrison County School Board, 1:06-cv-103 (N.D. W.Va. Oct. 18, 2006).

  67. Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980).

  68. Ring v. Grand Forks
Public School District, 483 F. Supp. 272 (D. N.D. 1980).

  69. Doe v. Harlan County School District, 96 F. Supp. 2d 667 (E.D. Ky. 2000), aff’d, ACLU of Kentucky v. McCreary County, 354 F.3d 438 (6th Cir. 2003).

  70. Baker v. Adams County/Ohio Valley School Board, 2004 WL 68523 (6th Cir. Jan. 12, 2004).

  71. McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky, 545 U.S. 844 (2005).

  72. Furley v. Aledo Independent School District, No. 4:99-CV-0416-A (N.D. Tex. Oct. 21, 1999), aff’d without opinion, 218 F.3d 743 (5th Cir. 2000); “5th Circuit dismisses case of edited graduation prayer,” Corpus Christi Caller Times, Wednesday, May 31, 2000 (at: http://www.coastalbendhealth.com/2000/may/31/today/texas_me/1336.html); “School District gets Sued over Prayer Policy,” Amarillo Globe-News, May 29, 1999 (at: www.amarillo.com/stories/052999/tex_LD0623.002.shtml); see also “Standing ovation for taking a stand on faith,” Levitt Letter, October 1999: Vol. 21, Number 10 (at: http://www.levitt.com/newsletters/1999-10.html).

  73. Cole v. Oroville Union High School District, 228 F.3d 1092 (9th Cir. 2000).

  74. Lassonde v. Pleasanton Unified School District, 320 F.3d 979 (9th Cir. 2003).

  75. Ashby v. Isle of Wight County School Board, 354 F. Supp. 2d 616 (E.D. Va. 2004).

  76. Doe v. Santa Fe Independent School District, Civil Action No. G-95-176 (S.D. Tex. May 5, 1995).

  77. Graham v. Central Community School District of Decatur County, 608 F. Supp. 531 (D. Iowa 1985).

  78. Kay v. Douglas School District, 719 P.2d 875 (Or. App. 1986).

  79. Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992).

  80. Gearon v. Loudoun County School Board, 844 F. Supp. 1097 (U.S.D.C., E.D. Va. 1993)

  81. Harris v. Joint School District, 41 F.3d 447 (9th Cir. 1994).

  82. Deveney v. Board of Education, Kanawha County, 231 F. Supp. 2d 483 (S.D. W.Va. 2002).

  83. Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578 (1987).

  84. Freiler v. Tangipahoa Parish Board of Education, 185 F.3d 337 (5th Cir. 1999).

  85. Selman v. Cobb County School District, 390 F. Supp. 2d 1286, 1313 (N.D. Ga. 2005).

  86. Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 400 F. Supp. 2d 707 (M.D. Pa. 2005).

  87. Hurst v. Newman, 1:06-CV-00036-OWW-SMS (E.D. Cal. January 17, 2006).

  88. Roberts v. Madigan, 702 F. Supp. 1505 (D. Colo. 1989), aff’d, 921 F.2d 1047 (10th Cir. 1990).

  89. DiLoreto v. Downey Unified School District Board of Education, 196 F.3d 958 (9th Cir. 1999).

  90. Anderson v. Mexico Academy and Central School, 186 F. Supp. 2d 193 (N.D.N.Y. 2002). (Later reversed in Kiesinger v. Mexico Academy and Central School, 00-1356 (N.D.N.Y. Mar. 31, 2006).)

  91. Oxford Baptist Church v. Catawba County School Board of Education, No. 5:02-CV-114-V (W.D. N.C. Oct. 5, 2004).

  92. Alexander v. Nacogdoches School District, Civil Action 9:91CV144 (E.D. Tex. 1991).

  93. Carpenter v. Dillon Elementary School District 10, 149 Fed. Appx. 645, 2005 WL 2271720 (9th Cir. Sept. 19, 2005) (unpublished).

  94. Florey v. Sioux Falls School District, 464 F. Supp. 911 (D. S.D. 1979).

  95. Skoros v. City of New York, 437 F.3d 1 (2d Cir. 2006).

  96. Dana Blanton, “Courts Driving Religion Out of Public Life; Christianity Under Attack,” FoxNews.com, December 1, 2005 (at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,177355,00.html); see also Melanie Hunter, “Most Americans Feel Religion Is ‘Under Attack,’ Poll Shows,” CNSNews.com, November 21, 2005 (at: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200511%5CCUL20051121a.html).

  97. Seemingly countless scores of examples documenting the hostility toward the word “Christmas” are contained in the files of numerous public interest law firms which defend religious expressions, including Alliance Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, Liberty Legal Institute, Pacific Justice Institute, Rutherford Foundation, National Legal Foundation, Thomas More Law Center, American Center for Law and Justice, and many others. Documentation of representative examples may be obtained by directly contacting each of these legal groups (e.g., “Liberty Counsel Sample Listing of Christmas Issues,” Liberty Counsel (at: http://www.lc.org/attachments/Christmas_list.pdf)) or even by an internet search of keywords. In addition to the numerous reports from the various public interest law firms, there are literally scores of published news articles documenting official hostility to the word “Christmas.” (See, for one example, “Another school censoring Christmas?” WorldNetDaily, December 19, 2005 (at: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47640).)

  98. See, for example, articles such as “Grinches working overtime in schools,” WorldNetDaily, December 19, 2005 (at: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47993), etc. Additional examples of students being restricted from use of the word “Christmas” or of alleged Christmas symbols are available from the sources identified above in footnote 97.

  99. Examples of the numerous incidents of this may be seen in articles such as Ron Strom, “District prohibits Christmas colors,” WorldNetDaily, December 15, 2004 (at: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41955), “School’s ban on Christmas carols sparks debate,” MSNBC, December 22, 2004 (at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6745305/), “Christmas Carols Banned but Hanukkah Songs OK,” WorldNetDaily, December 6, 2005 (at: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47749), Robert Wiener, “To Play or Not to Play: Schools Ban Wordless Tunes, Too,” Interfaith Family (at: http://www.interfaithfamily.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ekLSK5MLIrG&b=297377&ct=569929).

  100. See, for example, articles such as “Grinches working overtime in schools,” WorldNetDaily, December 19, 2005 (at: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47993), “‘Silent Night’ gets reprieve,” WorldNetDaily, December 14, 2005 (at: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47907); etc. Additional evidence of the frequent editing of lyrics in Christmas music is available from the sources noted above in footnote 97.

  101. “School’s ban on Christmas carols sparks debate,” MSNBC, December 22, 2004 (at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6745305/), David Thibault, “NJ School District Sued Over Ban of Christmas Instrumentals,” CNSNews.com, December 20, 2004 (at: http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewCulture.asp?Page=Culturearchive200412CUL20041220a.html), Stratechuk v. South Orange-Maplewood School District, No. 04-6189 (D. N.J., filed December 17, 2004), Nurre v. Whitehead, No. 06-00901RSL (W.D. Wash. Sept. 20, 2007).

  102. See, for example, “Red and green elf hats out, ‘magical trees’ in,” WorldNetDaily, December 23, 2005 (at: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48054); “Judge rules against school district,” WorldNetDaily, December 16, 2004 (at: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41975); etc. Additional evidence is available from the sources noted above in footnote 97.

  103. “Faith-talk: Important Info,” National Foundation for the Blind, November 15, 2005 (at: http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/faith-talk/2003-November/003354.html); Laurie Goodstein, “Disciplining of Student is Defended,” Washington Post, December 6, 1994; “Student Sent to Detention for Praying at Lunch,” University of Buffalo, April 18, 1994; Joan Little, “City Schools Issue Rules About Students, Religion,” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 11, 1996.

  104. Broadus v. Saratoga Springs City School District, 02-cv-0136 (N.D.N.Y. 2002); see also Ellen Sorokin, “Deal Reached on Praying Toddler,” Washington Times, June 12, 2002; Ed Vitagliano, “Toddler Can Pray in School… Quietly and Alone,” American Family Association, November 6, 2002.

  105. Harvey Rice, “Lawsuit Claims Students Not Allowed to Carry Bibles,” Houston Chronicle, May 23, 2000; see also “Bible, Book Covers Causes School Grief,” Associated Press, June 1, 2000.

  106. Johnson v. Poway Unified School District, No. 3:2007cv00783 (S.D. Cal., filed April 30, 2007); Shayna Chabner, “Poway Unified sued over removal of teacher’s ‘God’ signs,” North County Times, May 1, 2007 (at: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/05/02/news/inland/22_31_735_1_07.txt), “‘Christianity is not a disease’: Lawsuit seeks restoration of traditional American slog
ans in classroom,” WorldNetDaily, May 5, 2007 (at: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55549); etc.

  107. Susan Jones, “Jesus Christ’ Sweatshirt Ends Up Offending Everyone,” Baptist Press, March 6, 2001 (at: http://sbcbaptistpress.com/bpnews.asp?id=10426).

  108. [Brittney Kay] Settle v. Dickson County School Board, 53 F.3d 152 (6th Cir. 1995); see also “Court rejects case of girl who wrote Jesus paper,” Dallas Morning News, November 28, 1995, p. 4-A.

  109. Curran v. School Board, No. 0460032 (S.D. Fla., filed January 12, 2004).

  110. Heinkel v. School Board of Lee County, Florida, 194 Fed. Appx. 604, 2006 WL 2417296 (11th Cir. Aug. 22, 2006) (unpublished); M.B. v. Liverpool Central School District, No. 5:04-CV-1255 (NAM/GHL) (N.D.N.Y., filed Oct. 28, 2004), Cumana v. Bucelo, No. 99-2107-CIV-JORDAN (S.D. Fla. May 24, 2002), Westfield High School L.I.F.E. Club v. City of Westfield, 249 F. Supp. 2d 98 (D. Mass. 2003), Hills v. Scottsdale Unified School District No. 48, 329 F.3d 1044 (9th Cir. 2003).

  111. Walz v. Egg Harbor Township Board of Education, No. 00-2149 ( JBS) (D. N.J. Feb. 11, 2002).

  112. Harper v. Poway Unified School District, 445 F.3d 1166 (9th Cir. 2006); “Free-speech fashion,” Los Angeles Times, April 26, 2006 (at: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-tshirt26apr26,0,1795156.story), “Brave New Schools: Students suspended for ‘anti-gay’ shirts; Considering lawsuit over message ‘Homosexuality is sin’,” WorldNetDaily, May 3, 2006 (at: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50016), Loredana Vuoto, “Pro-lifers suited to a T,” The Washington Times, April 27, 2004; Art Moore, “Pro-life shirt equated with swastika; ‘National day’ planned for kids to wear message barred by principal,” WorldNetDaily, January 31, 2003 (at: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30781), Rick Wesley, “Who would say a Christian Pro-Life T-shirt was the same as a Nazi Swastika?” CCN-USA, April 2003.

  113. Amy Hetzner, “School rejected girl’s religious cards, suit says; Second-grader’s constitutional rights violated, lawsuit claims,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 22, 2001 (at: http://www2.jsonline.com/news/wauk/mar01/relig22032101a.asp), The Associated Press, “Wisconsin school board: Girl may hand out religious cards,” Freedom Forum, August 29, 2001 (at: http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=14741), Nyman/Liberty Counsel v. School District of Kettle Moraine, 2:01-cv-00285-CNC (E.D. Wis., filed March 22, 2001).