Coercion test
| Lee v. Weisman | |
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| Argued November 6, 1991 Decided June 24, 1992 |
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| Full case name | Robert E. Lee, Individually and as Principal of Nathan Bishop Middle School, et al., Petitioners v. Daniel Weisman etc. |
| Citations | 505 U.S. 577 (more)
112 S. Ct. 2649; 120 L. Ed. 2d 467; 1990 U.S. LEXIS 4364; 60 U.S.L.W. 4723; 92 Cal. Daily Op. Service 5448; 92 Daily Journal DAR 8669
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| Prior history | Respondents' motion for restraining order to prevent invocation from being delivered denied, District Court for the District of Rhode Island (1990); Appealed after graduation ceremony, decision reversed, Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1990) |
| Holding | |
| Including a clergy-led prayer within the events of a public high school graduation violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Kennedy, joined by Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Souter |
| Concurrence | Blackmun, joined by Stevens, O'Connor |
| Concurrence | Souter, joined by Stevens, O'Connor |
| Dissent | Scalia, joined by Rehnquist, White, Thomas |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I | |
Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992) was a United States Supreme Court decision regarding school prayer. It was the first major school prayer case decided by the Rehnquist Court. It ruled that schools may not sponsor clerics to conduct even non-denominational prayer. The Court followed a broad interpretation of the Establishment Clause that had been standard for decades at the nation's highest court, a reaffirmation of the principles of such landmark cases as Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962) and Abington v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963).
Robert E. Lee was the principal of Nathan Bishop Middle School in Providence, Rhode Island. He invited a Jewish rabbi to deliver a prayer at the 1989 graduation ceremony, but the parents of student Deborah Weisman requested a temporary injunction to bar the rabbi from speaking. The question being reviewed was whether or not this was constitutional. The Rhode Island district court denied the Weismans' motion. The family did attend the graduation ceremony, and the rabbi did deliver the benediction.
The Weismans continued their litigation after the graduation and won a victory at the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The school district appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the prayer was nonsectarian and was doubly voluntary: Deborah was free not to stand for the prayer and because participation in the ceremony itself was not required. Arguments were heard on November 6, 1991. Justice Anthony Kennedy had been critical of the Court's decisions on school prayer, and many court watchers thought that he would provide the crucial fifth vote to reverse the lower court's ruling and deal a major blow to the twin separationist pillars of Engel and Abington.
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