http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/18/judge-expected-to-rule-in-texas-
cheerleader-bible-verse-banner-suit/?intcmp=trending
AUSTIN, Texas – A judge stopped an East Texas school district on Thursday
from barring cheerleaders from quoting Bible verses on banners at high
school football games, saying the policy appears to violate their free
speech rights.
District Judge Steve Thomas granted an injunction requested by the Kountze
High School cheerleaders allowing them to continue displaying religious-
themed banners pending the outcome of a lawsuit set to go to trial next
June 24, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said.
Thomas previously granted a temporary restraining order allowing the
practice to continue.
School officials barred the cheerleaders from displaying banners with
religious messages such as, "If God is for us, who can be against us,"
after the Freedom From Religion Foundation complained. The advocacy group
says the messages violate the First Amendment clause barring the
government -- or a publicly funded school district, in this case -- from
establishing or endorsing a religion.
Republican Gov. Rick Perry and Abbott spoke out in support of the
cheerleaders on Wednesday. Perry appointed Thomas to fill a vacancy on the
356th District Court, and he is running for election to continue in the
post as a Republican.
Abbott also filed court papers to intervene in the lawsuit and sent state
attorneys to support the cheerleaders' position that the district's ban
violated their free speech rights. The Texas Education Code also states
that schools must respect the rights of students to express their
religious beliefs.
"It is the individual speech of the cheerleaders and not in fact the
government speaking," David Starnes, the cheerleaders' attorney said,
according to KDFM television. "It is not just one girl or one person in
the group that comes up with the quote, but it's on a rotating basis that
each girl gets to pick the quote. That is their individual voices that are
being portrayed on the banner."
Thomas Brandt, the attorney representing the school district, said the
superintendent had acted to comply within existing legal rulings.
The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement in which it called the
judge's decision misguided.
"Public schools are for children of all faiths or no faith, and these
banners were clearly being displayed in the context of school-sponsored
activities," the group said. "Faith is a profoundly personal decision, so
students should not be subjected to an exclusionary school-sponsored
religious message on campus or be forced to choose between attending
quintessential school events -- football games -- or being subjected to an
unwanted religious message."
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is dedicated to the separation
of church and state, argued in the context of a football game it was
unclear who was responsible for the messages, the school or the
cheerleaders.
"The speech in question is government speech or, at a minimum, school-
sponsored speech," the group said in court papers. "If the majority of the
cheerleaders were atheists, would a court support their 'right' to hold up
a banner insulting Christianity or all believers? The district has every
right to simply prohibit all run-through and on-field banners."
Perry said Texans should encourage the cheerleaders.
"Anyone who is expressing their faith should be celebrated, from my
perspective, in this day and age of instant gratification, this me-first
culture that we see all too often," Perry said Wednesday. "We're a nation
built on the concept of free expression of ideas. We're also a culture
built on the concept that the original law is God's law, outlined in the
Ten Commandments."
--
Obama's black racist USAG appointee.
Eric Holder, racist black United States Attorney General drops voter
intimidation charges against the Black Panthers, "You are about to be
ruled by the black man, cracker!"
Eric Holder, prejudiced black United States Attorney General settles the
hate crime debate, "Whites Not Protected by Hate Crime Laws."
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact, to
former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New
York's million dollar tax evasion.
Barack Obama and Eric Holder, committed treason by knowingly and
deliberately arming enemies of the United States of America through
Operation Fast and Furious. Complicit in the murder of Federal employees
during the execution of their duties.
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