American Civil Liberties Union

"What's the harm?" That is the question we are often asked when the ACLU steps in to stop public school officials from including official prayer in school events and proselytizing students. It was a question posed by many community members in the Chesterfield County School District when we filed a lawsuit on behalf of middle school student Jordan Anderson after the district invited Christian rapper B-SHOC and a youth minister to evangelize students during a school-day assembly and continued to subject to students to a variety of other religious practices.

Today, many public schools will recognize and celebrate Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution.  Two hundred and twenty-five years later, you might think we could all agree on a few simple principles regarding how that document, which was amended a few years later to include the Bill of Rights, applies in the schools that will be studying it. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Constitution’s religious freedom protections, a handful of groups are pushing public schools to adopt a lopsided view of religious liberty that could further marginalize students of minority faiths, as well as non-believers, denying them the full benefit of the public education experience.

Today, we were pleased to learn that the Supreme Court declined to review our challenge to the federal government’s display of a 43-foot-tall Latin cross atop Mt. Soledad in San Diego, California.  The ACLU and the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties brought the case on behalf of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America—the oldest veterans’ organization in the country – and several local residents.