Berkley Center

In Lee v. Weisman, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the practice of inviting clergy to deliver invocations and benedictions at public school graduations. Weisman, the parent of a public school student in Rhode Island, sued the Providence school system to stop them from allowing clergy to participate in graduation ceremonies. Weisman challenged a school board policy that gave each school principal complete discretion to choose a clergy member of any faith to give an invocation at school graduations. In addition, the principal controlled the content of the invocation to insure that it remained secular in nature. The Court held that this type of state control over which clergy gave the invocation and the content of the invocation constituted state establishment of religion. The Court also found that students might feel compelled to attend the ceremony despite their opposition to any religious invocation, which would result in government coerced support of religion. For example, a non-observing student might feel peer pressure to attend the ceremony, or, because high school graduation is such a significant occasion in a person’s life, even non-observing students might feel compelled to attend. Thus, the Court held that the practice of inviting clergy to give invocations at public school ceremonies violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.