Doesn’t have a prayer?

The State Attorney General Greg Abbott has intervened at a Kountze ISD high school which caused a firestorm when the cheerleaders began unfurling banners at football games that had Biblical verses printed on them.  After the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Wisconsin threatened a lawsuit, the school ordered the cheerleaders to cease.  The Attorney General’s office then questioned whether the school was properly enforcing the separation of church and state which ensures that governments are not establishing or favoring religion.  While government cannot favor religion, it also cannot interfere with an individual’s free exercise rights—including that of religious speech (expressions about faith that are constitutionally protected).  The U.S. Supreme Court looked at a similar Texas case in Doe v. Santa Fe School District (2000) and struck down the reading of prayers at public high school football games because it had the effect of establishing religion. The High Court used the coercion test to question whether the readings coerced students into hearing religious messages.  Even though the prayer was student-initiated (led by students rather than the school authorities), the concern was that such prayers forced students whose attendance was mandatory (e.g. football players, the band, and cheerleaders) to receive religious messages they could not escape. A preliminary hearing will be held this week to determine whether the cheerleaders’ can continue.

And speaking of trying to escape, during the U.S. Senate primary elections (held by each party to nominate their party’s candidate for the November 6 elections), Ted Cruz hammered David Dewhurst about his unwillingness to schedule public debates.  Cruz went on to win the Republic primary nomination in a surprise upset, and he now faces Paul Sadler (the Democratic nominee) in the general election.  Only now Cruz is on the receiving end of criticism because he has agreed to only two debates, rather than the three which Sadler requested.  Such debates are important for Sadler because of his trailing public opinion polls, and the advantage Cruz has because the Senate race is considered a safe seat (where one candidate has an advantage because the voting population is dominated by the candidate’s party). It is unlikely Cruz will agree to more debates because typically candidates holding such an advantage have little incentive to do so.

Texas Round-Up

Today we begin doing summaries of the hottest topics in Texas politics, so you will want to check these out because they will appear on the current events quiz.

*The city of Austin long known for having left of center views passed legislation that supports endorses same-sex marriage.

*The U.S. Supreme Court will revisit the University of Texas’ affirmative action policy for admissions even though it seemed like the issue had been settled in 2003.