Prepare a legal brief on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Santa Fe Essay

Prepare a legal brief on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290 (2000) - Essay Example They even argued that since these prayers were conducted by the students themselves, these prayers were not anything more than a speech conducted by a student and by no means was a speech that was sponsored by the state itself. This case was a 6 -3 decision in which the court decided that the prayers conducted by students before commencement of football games taking place at a public address system gives an image that the state government is trying to endorse religious activities and due to this such activities were found to be in violation of the Establishment Clause1. The district had failed to persuade the court into believing that prayers conducted before high school level football games were a private matter of the students. These prayers and their content were regulated, administered and monitored by the school and due to this; these prayers were considered as if the government preferred such speeches and prayers which are religious in nature. Secondly, according to the historical background of practices that were religious in nature and were conducted in the district of schools, the policy that was undertaken by the district to elect students seemed to be created to preserve the performance of prayers taking place before the games were held. The court even figured out that the method that was used to elect the prayer participants and to determine whether a particular message should be conveyed or not intensified the issue of violation of Establishment Clause because these voting resulted in rivalry between different individuals who were foll owing different religions. Fourthly, the way the speaker was elected even reflected that prayers of those who were in the majority would take place. Due to all these factors, the court established that such practices were not only perceived to be endorsed by the state, but were actually state endorsed and