## Facts

- A student and her father sued a Texas public school district challenging religious practices in athletics, choir programs, and on-campus Bible distribution.
- The student was enrolled in an athletic class for girls’ basketball team members that awarded academic credit and extended into after-school practice.
- The basketball coach regularly included the Lord’s Prayer during practices and prayers occurred in locker rooms, on the court after games, and on team buses; the coach initiated or participated in prayers.
- After the student stopped praying, she was required to stand apart while teammates prayed, drawing attention and comments from peers and spectators.
- In choir programs, directors used Christian songs as “theme songs,” and some choir events included student prayers or devotionals with varying degrees of employee involvement.
- The district allowed Gideon representatives to distribute Bibles to fifth-grade students in classrooms on school premises.
- The district court entered a permanent injunction barring specified religious practices in curricular and extracurricular activities; the school district appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether school employees’ initiation, participation, or supervision of prayer in school-sponsored curricular or extracurricular activities violates the Establishment Clause.
2. Whether public school choirs’ use of religious songs as “theme songs” constitutes unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
3. Whether the plaintiffs had standing to challenge on-campus Gideon Bible distribution to fifth-grade students.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit affirmed the injunction barring school employees from participating in, leading, or initiating prayer at school-sponsored curricular and extracurricular events.
- The court reversed the injunction to the extent it categorically prohibited use of religious songs as choir theme songs within a secular music education program.
- The court dismissed the challenge to Gideon Bible distribution for lack of standing.

## Legal Principles

- Public school employees may not lead, initiate, or participate in prayer with students in school-controlled settings because such conduct conveys governmental endorsement of religion and creates coercive pressure on students.
- The Establishment Clause requires governmental neutrality toward religion; excluding religious content solely because it is religious can reflect unconstitutional hostility rather than neutrality.
- Religious works may be included in a secular curriculum when presented for legitimate educational and artistic reasons and not as devotional exercises.
- Establishment Clause claims require standing based on concrete, personal injury (such as direct exposure) or recognized taxpayer standing supported by an identified expenditure of tax revenues.

## Conclusion

The court held that employee-involved prayer in school-sponsored activities violates the Establishment Clause due to endorsement and coercion concerns, permitted religious choral music when used for secular educational purposes, and rejected the Bible-distribution claim because the plaintiffs lacked standing.


Doe v. Duncanville Indep. Sch. Dist., 70 F.3d 402 (5th Cir. 1995)