A federal judge has temporarily struck down Mississippi's school prayer law until he can decide whether it is constitutional.
A law that took effect July 1 lets students pray at school as long as the worshiping is something they initiate. It also allows voluntary "non-sectarian and non-proselytizing" benedictions and invocations.In a ruling released late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate wrote that the law is vague.
"As it reads now, any person, including school administrators, teachers, or members of the clergy, seemingly would be permitted under the statute to deliver invocations and benedictions at a wide range of school-related functions," Wingate wrote.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1963 declared school prayer unconstitutional. But a 1992 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision said that voluntary, student-led and student-initiated prayers are constitutional.
The Mississippi law was challenged last month by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way on behalf of 14 parents and students.
Wingate granted the groups' request for a temporary injunction before school starts next week. He scheduled a Tuesday hearing for arguments.
The legislation was introduced after a Jackson school principal was suspended for allowing students to read prayers over the school intercom.