Texas top court sides with cheerleaders in Bible banner suit

The Texas Supreme Court reinstated a lawsuit that was dismissed in 2014 over an independent school district banning bible quotes from banners at high school football games.

“Accordingly, we grant the cheerleaders’ petition for review and without hearing oral argument … reverse the court of appeals’ judgment and remand the case to that court for further proceedings”, concluded Devine.

The Kountze cheerleaders, like cheerleaders at many schools, made banners to carry onto the field during football games.

The justices determined their ruling was still necessary even though the Kountze school district later allowed the banners. “I don’t think it provides any protection for the religious liberties of Kountze cheerleaders in the future”, said Hiram Sasser, a lead attorney for the Liberty Institute, a Plano-based nonprofit law firm that represents the cheerleaders.

In May 2013, a state district judge ruled that the signs were constitutionally permissible after the school district changed its policy and joined the sides of the girls and their families.

The Kountze Independent School District claimed the banners represented government speech, so the district could censor them whenever it wanted.

Thomas Brandt, the attorney representing the district, had initially said the issue doesn’t concern free speech because it has editorial control over the content of the banners. He said that the district would not forbid any banners that were religious in nature, but would do so if they contained language that was offensive or in poor taste.

“While all students have the right to practice their faith privately in the public-school setting, official religious promotion alienates and excludes students of minority faiths and nonbelievers and sparks religious tensions and divisiveness within school districts”, said a legal brief by the ACLU of Texas that was joined by the Anti-Defamation League, Hindu American Foundation and other religious groups.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a complaint in 2012 that sought to have the banners banned.

“This is an 8-0 victory for the free speech and religious liberty rights of all Texas students”, Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of Liberty Institute, a Christian legal group that co-represented the cheerleaders, said in a statement.