The opinion is here. There are also two concurring opinions that for some reason would not open.
http://www.txcourts.gov/media/1284936/140453.pdf The merits appear not to have been litigated or decided. The court says the “only issue” is voluntary cessation. It looks like the school district was the only defendant and that it did not defend its attempt to stop the banners. So it is hard to imagine any reason why a plaintiff with standing would be precluded from filing an Establishment Clause claim. Not only is there no claim or issue preclusion; there is not even a precedent. Douglas Laycock Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law University of Virginia Law School 580 Massie Road Charlottesville, VA 22903 434-243-8546 From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Ira Lupu Sent: Saturday, January 30, 2016 12:37 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics <religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> Subject: Re: Texas Cheerleaders display Bible Verses on banners Following up -- This case was litigated in the state courts. Once the cheerleader religious banners start flying at football games next fall (or basketball games right now), are there any doctrines of preclusion that would stop Freedom from Religion Foundation or others from litigating the Establishment Clause claim, against these public school districts, in the federal courts? In light of Santa Fe School District v. Doe, the claim looks awfully strong to me. Perhaps it would be difficult to find a plaintiff, even a Jane Doe plaintiff, because of fear of reprisals. But the situation seems constitutionally repulsive to me, and it's very sad if fear chases away all the potential plaintiffs. On Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 12:15 PM, Ira Lupu <icl...@law.gwu.edu<mailto:icl...@law.gwu.edu>> wrote: Steve Jamar is absolutely right, and the Texas Supreme Court is quite wrong. Cheers uttered, and banners carried, by cheerleaders during a public high school football game are school sponsored speech. Does anyone on the list think the First Amendment would bar the school from ordering cheerleaders not to carry a sign that said "Feel the Bern -- beat Austin HS!"? The school is responsible for the content of these banners, and a school sponsored banner that reads "“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me,” as one of them did, is a violation of the Establishment Clause. On Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 11:42 AM, Steven Jamar <stevenja...@gmail.com<mailto:stevenja...@gmail.com>> wrote: Seems to me there is an establishment problem here. Cheerleaders are sponsored by the school and are displaying religious messages to a captive audience who could choose to forego attending the game or else putting up with the religious banners. Has the free speech approach become so dominant that stopping such displays becomes content-based discrimination and avoiding establishing religion doesn’t meet strict scrutiny as a reason to infringe on such speech? https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/texas-top-court-sides-with-cheerleaders-in-bible-banner-suit/2016/01/29/0939bbce-c6b7-11e5-b933-31c93021392a_story.html -- Prof. Steven D. Jamar Howard University School of Law vox: 202-806-8017 fax: 202-806-8567 http://sdjlaw.org Two quotes from Louis Armstrong: "You blows who you is." "If ya ain't got it in ya, ya can't blow it out." _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. -- Ira C. Lupu F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law, Emeritus George Washington University Law School 2000 H St., NW Washington, DC 20052 (202)994-7053 Co-author (with Professor Robert Tuttle) of "Secular Government, Religious People" ( Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2014)) My SSRN papers are here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=181272#reg -- Ira C. Lupu F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law, Emeritus George Washington University Law School 2000 H St., NW Washington, DC 20052 (202)994-7053 Co-author (with Professor Robert Tuttle) of "Secular Government, Religious People" ( Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2014)) My SSRN papers are here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=181272#reg
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
