In this week’s brief, attorneys for the Department of Education wrote that the association “completely disregarded core First Amendment principles when it refused to allow Cambridge Christian School to pray over the loudspeaker at its 2015 championship game solely because of the religious message of the prayer, even though secular, non-governmental messages were allowed.” The Florida Department of Education is backing a Tampa Christian school in a legal battle about whether the school should have been allowed to offer a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a 2015 football championship game. Attorneys for the department filed a 28-page brief this week at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blasting the Florida High School Athletic Association, which rejected Cambridge Christian School’s request to offer a prayer before the high-school game in Orlando. Cambridge Christian challenged the constitutionality of the association’s decision and went to the Atlanta-based appeals court after U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell in April said the association did not violate the school’s First Amendment rights. In this week’s brief, attorneys for the Department of Education wrote that the association “completely disregarded core First Amendment principles when it refused to allow Cambridge Christian School to pray over […]
