(WND)—Whether a school board member is allowed to quote from the Bible, in public, for encouragement is on the court docket in Arizona.
Officials with First Liberty Institute and the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher have filed a brief encouraging the federal court there to affirm the right of Heather Rooks, the president of the Peoria Unif9ied School District Board, to recite from Scripture during meetings.
“Citing a quotation from any text, be it sacred or secular, for the purpose of encouragement or inspiration is completely protected under the Free Speech Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” explained First Liberty Institute lawyer Erin Smith. “That conclusion is compelled by Supreme Court precedent and confirmed by history and tradition.”
Matt Scorcio, of the Gibson law firm, said, “Our Nation’s public officials have quoted scripture in performing their duties from the Founding through today. Heather Rooks’ practice of opening her Board comments time with a brief quotation of scripture fits comfortably within that tradition, so it can’t as a matter of law give rise to an Establishment Clause violation.”
Rooks began her time with the board in January 2023, and she recently was elected president.
“During each Peoria School Board meeting, the agenda includes a brief ‘Board comments’ period where individual board members may offer remarks of their own choosing. Since the beginning of her public service on the board, Ms. Rooks opened her comments by quoting a short scripture from the Bible,” the legal team said.
But various “anti-religious organizations” wrote to the board, demanding a complete censorship of her comments.
The previous board chief told her to stop using scripture, and a motion now filed with the court argues, “Far from being compelled by the Establishment Clause, the District’s actions in this case violate Rooks’ own rights of religious freedom and speech under state and federal law. As the Supreme Court put it recently in the landmark case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, a ‘government entity’s concerns about phantom constitutional violations’ never ‘justify actual violations of an individual’s First Amendment rights.’ The Court should grant summary judgment to Rooks, award her nominal damages, and grant her declaratory relief.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported when the dispute arose that Rooks went to court after being ordered to censor her Bible references.
It was Lisa Anne Smith, the board’s lawyer, who dictated that members were not allowed to “pray or recite scripture during board meetings.”
The legal action complained,” The District’s official policy and actions—which purport to ensure Rooks does ‘not read scripture’ or ‘offer bible verses’—regulate her speech based on its content, message, and viewpoint. The District’s policies and actions therefore chill her ability to freely speak, in violation of the First Amendment.”
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
Controlling Protein Is One of the Globalists’ Primary Goals
Between the globalists, corporate interests, and our own government, the food supply is being targeted from multiple angles. It isn’t just silly regulations and misguided subsidies driving natural foods away. Bird flu, sabotaged food processing plants, mysterious deaths of entire cattle herds, arson attacks, and an incessant push to make climate change the primary consideration for all things are combining for a perfect storm to exacerbate the ongoing food crisis.
The primary target is protein. Specifically, they’re going after beef as the environmental boogeyman. They want us eating vegetable-based proteins, lab-grown meat, or even bugs instead of anything that walked the pastures of America. This is why we launched a long-term storage prepper beef company that provides high-quality food that’s shelf-stable for up to 25-years.
At Prepper All-Naturals, we believe Americans should be eating real food today and into the future regardless of what the powers-that-be demand of us. We will never use lab-grown beef. We will never allow our cattle to be injected with mRNA vaccines. We will never bow to the draconian diktats of the climate change cult.
Visit Prepper All-Naturals and use promo code “veterans25” to get 25% off plus free shipping on Ribeye, NY Strip, Tenderloin, and other high-quality cuts of beef. It’s cooked sous vide, then freeze dried and packaged with no other ingredients, just beef. Stock up for the long haul today.
