On The Front Lines
Defending Right to Religious Expression in Graduation Speech, Rutherford Institute Attorneys Present Oral Arguments
Institute Attorneys Present Arguments Before Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Behalf of High School Salutatorian Nicholas LassondeSAN FRANCISCO, Ca.-- Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute will present oral arguments before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on January 17, 2003, at 10:00 a.m., PT, challenging an October 2001 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson to throw out the case of Nicholas Lassonde, a former high school salutatorian who was ordered by schools officials to remove religious language from his high school graduation speech. Institute attorneys filed an appeal in the Ninth Circuit in November 2001 challenging Judge Henderson's ruling that permitting Lassonde's religious statements would have violated the constitutional requirement of separation of church and state.
On June 18, 1999, Nicholas Lassonde delivered his salutatorian speech at his graduation ceremony, but not before school officials who were fearful of violating the so-called "separation of church and state" demanded that certain sections they considered "proselytizing comments" be removed. For example, Lassonde was asked to remove the phrase "seek out the Lord and let him guide you." Under protest, Lassonde agreed to deliver the censored speech but also handed out copies of the full text outside the site of the graduation ceremony. During his speech, Lassonde informed the audience that his speech had been censored. Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute filed suit against the school district and several of its officials, alleging unlawful censorship of Lassonde's religious point of view. Judge Henderson dismissed the lawsuit on October 2, 2001, holding that censorship was "necessary" to avoid endorsing religion. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that student-led prayer at graduation ceremonies violates the Establishment Clause, it has yet to weigh in on the more difficult question of whether a student graduation speaker may be censored simply because his speech is religious.
"Nicholas Lassonde, alone among the three student graduation speakers at Amador Valley High School, had his speech censored line-for-line of his most deeply cherished views about what is important in life," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "America's commitment to pluralism and diversity rings hollow when it is only devoutly religious students who are singled out for silencing."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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