Supreme Court Weighs School Stadium Prayer Ban

Cambridge Christian School in Tampa is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case concerning whether it was unlawfully prohibited from offering a pregame prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a 2015 high school football championship at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium. The Florida High School Athletic Association had classified all loudspeaker announcements, including prayers, as government speech and banned the prayer, a position upheld by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorneys for Cambridge Christian School argue that this interpretation threatens to suppress private religious expression in public venues. The case comes as the Supreme Court has recently issued many unanimous or near-unanimous decisions, and follows a 2022 ruling allowing a high school coach to pray on the field. The legal dispute underscores ongoing tensions between the free exercise of religion and the Establishment Clause in public settings. The outcome could establish a precedent for religious speech in government-managed venues.