Lee V Weisman

Katharine Lally

REL 206

Kristen Hamilton

October 30, 13

Lee v. Weisman

In 1989 a young girl in Providence, Rhode Island Deborah Weisman and her father Daniel did not want a prayer to be said before her graduation ceremony. That is the basis of this court case whether or not a prayer said before a public school graduation ceremony was a violation of the Establishment Clause (Lee v. Weisman, 1999).

According to the article by the Gale Group for many years the principals in Providence, Rhode Island had been inviting religious leaders to lead a prayer before the schools graduation ceremony. Because this had been going on the school district had even prepared guidelines to make sure the prayers did not include any specific deities or saints (Lee v Weisman, 1999). However, in 1989 this changed because of the Weisman family, four days before her graduation they filed for a restraining order but it was denied due to the short time between when it was filed and the graduation ceremony. Therefore the ceremony went on as planned with a prayer being said. Daniel Weisman continued on and filed an injunction with the district courts to prohibit the use of prayer in further graduation ceremonies (Lee v. Weisman, 1999).

Robert E. Lee the petitioner and the principal of Nathan Bishop Middle School in Providence argument against Weisman and the courts was that prayer is an appropriate and effective means for the parents and student to seek spiritual guidance at events such as a graduation ceremony (Lee v Weisman, 1999). However, the district courts did not have the same opinion as Lee they stated that prayer at a public school graduation ceremony did violate the Establishment Clause. Lee did not like the ruling of the district court so he appealed it all the way to the Supreme Court.

The district court used the Lemon test to establish this violation; they said that prayer most definitely violated the second clause of the Lemon Test. The second...