The Supreme Court has declined to hear oral arguments on a case in which a Florida athletic organization would not let a Christian school say a prayer over the loudspeaker before a championship game.
The court’s decision in the case of Cambridge Christian School, Inc. v. Florida High School Athletic Association appeared on a list of orders this week.
It was not signed, and no explanation was given for the order.
The appeals court ruling in the case said that the use of the loudspeaker made the prayer “government speech.”
Prior to the championship game in 2015 at Citrus Bowl Stadium, it was common practice for Cambridge Christian School to say a prayer over the loudspeaker before games.
Cambridge was playing University Christian School in that game.
Both teams had requested the prayer.
Roger Dearing of FHSAA told the schools that the Citrus Bowl was “a public facility, predominantly paid for with public tax dollars, [making] the facility ‘off limits’ under federal guidelines and precedent court cases.”
In a statement, Dearing said at the time:
“In Florida Statutes, the FHSAA (host and coordinator of the event) is legally a ‘State Actor,’ we cannot legally permit or grant permission for such an activity.”
An appeals court in 2019 reversed a lower court decision upholding the ban.
However, further appeals reinstated the ban.
The argument given was that FHSAA was essentially regulating its own speech, which doesn’t fall under the purview of the First Amendment.
It makes sense given that the two Christian schools were members of FHSAA and would be under its rules and leadership.
If the Supreme Court saw the issue similarly, it wouldn’t have a reason to take the case.
Though it seems counterintuitive for two teams that both agree they want to have a prayer to be told they can’t, it seems that it can happen in a lawful way that makes sense at some level.
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