The Texas Supreme Court ruled on Jan. 29 that cheerleaders may continue their suit against the Kountze Independent School District over their regular practice of displaying biblical banners at football games.
The court remanded the case back to the court of appeals. Although the evangelical Liberty Institute is touting the decision, the court did not address the underlying speech claim, merely declaring that the cheerleader case was not moot.
The case began after FFRF filed a complaint with the school district in 2012 over proselytizing banners held up by the cheerleaders as football players ran through them to open games. The banners had such messages as: “But thanks be to God which gives us Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor 15:57,” and “If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31.”
After the school temporarily restricted the religious banners, the cheerleaders filed suit seeking a court order that they had a right under Texas law to promote religion on banners on the football field. Then-Gov. Rick Perry also championed the cheerleaders. The school district changed course immediately and began allowing them to be displayed.
If a current student or teacher at the school sought to challenge the banners under the Establishment Clause, they, along with FFRF, could still file a separate legal challenge, offered FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. She called the biblical banners “so patently inappropriate at a public school that should welcome and include everyone, including nonreligious and non-Christian students and fans.”
