Supreme Court Declines High School Pregame Prayer Case

The court refused to hear Cambridge Christian School’s appeal over a denied request to broadcast a pregame prayer, with no noted dissents. By declining review, the justices left intact an 11th Circuit ruling that pregame stadium programs at state-run championships are government speech. The decision also preserves the Supreme Court’s 2000 Santa Fe precedent striking down student-led prayers over public-address systems at football games. The dispute began in 2015 when the Florida High School Athletic Association barred use of the loudspeaker for a communal prayer at a neutral-site title game, though teams were allowed to pray together on the field. Florida later required the FHSAA to allow brief opening remarks by participating schools, which the association says can include communal prayers, while the school and its supporters warned that labeling such speech as government speech could chill religious expression.