Problem
Supreme Court Case Analysis- Read the information about the Supreme Court case and answer the prompts comparing the new case to the required case. The Santa Fe Independent School District had a policy that permitted, but did not require, student-initiated and student-led prayer to be delivered over the public address system before each football game. A U.S. District Court ordered the modification of the policy to only permit nonsectarian, nonproselytizing prayer.
In Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000), the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision held that the school district policy of allowing student-led, student-initiated prayer at football games violates the Constitution. The Court ruled that the prayers were public speech authorized by a government policy taking place on government property at government-sponsored events and that the policy involved both perceived and actual government endorsement of prayer. Writing for the majority Justice Stevens stated that such speech is not properly characterized as "private."
A. Identify the constitutional clause that is common to both Santa Fe ISD v. Doe and Engel v. Vitale.
B. Explain how the facts in Engel and Santa Fe led to a similar decision in both cases.
C. Describe one action that the president could take if she disagreed with the Court's ruling in Santa Fe. 4. Explain why the Supreme Court focused on whether the prayer was public or private speech.