Football team praying at Cambridge Christian School. TAMPA, Fla. – Attorneys are battling over whether a new state law could short-circuit a case about whether a Tampa Christian school was improperly prevented from offering a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a 2015 high-school football championship game. The Florida High School Athletic Association on Friday filed a brief arguing the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should dismiss the case, in part because the new law will allow such prayers. The Atlanta-based appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments on June 27 in the lawsuit, which Cambridge Christian School filed after the athletic association rejected a request by the school to offer a prayer before a game at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. A federal district judge upheld the athletic association’s decision, but Gov. Ron DeSantis last month signed a law (HB 225) that allows "opening remarks," which could be prayers, at high-school championship events. In the brief Friday, attorneys for the athletic association argued that Cambridge Christian could not show it had legal "standing" for reasons including the law. "(The law) was specifically tailored to eliminate the purported injury CCS (Cambridge Christian) asserts here, and it would plainly do […]
