U.S. Supreme Court
School District’s Ban of Religious Music at Graduation Ceremony Did Not Violate Student’s First Amendment Rights
Nurre v. Whitehead, 176 L. Ed. 2d 399 (U.S. 2010)

In an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Kathryn Nurre’s writ of certiorari on the issue of a school district’s authority to ban religious music at a graduation ceremony. The Court held that the prohibition did not violate a student’s First Amendment rights. Although the majority denied the request without comment, Justice Samuel Alito issued a dissent explaining his preference for hearing the case.

The case originated when graduating students of Jackson High School in Everett School District chose an instrumental musical selection of “Ave Maria” for their 2006 graduation ceremony. After learning of the students’ musical selection, district administrators became concerned. Their concerns were based on a letter to the editor and parents’ complaints received the previous year following a performance of “Up Above My Head,” a song with religious references to “God,” “heaven,” and “angels.” As a consequence, district officials decided that all graduation music should be strictly secular. After learning of the denial, Nurre sued alleging a violation of her First Amendment rights.

A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the school district’s decision to ban the performance of an instrumental musical piece, “Ave Maria” during graduation ceremony did not violate Nurre’s free speech rights. Additionally, the Court held it did not violate the Establishment Clause or the Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution. For additional information on the Ninth Circuit ruling, see the October/November 2009 issue of School Law Digest, Issue No. 9.

In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case, Justice Alito, in his dissent, retorted that such a ban could lead to censorship of other types of personal student expression such as student speeches or a wide-ranging censorship of student speech that contains controversial ideas. “School administrators may not behave like puppet masters who create the illusion that students are engaging in personal expression when in fact the school administration is pulling the strings.” By upholding the Ninth Circuit’s decision, Alito said it, “…authorizes school administrators to ban any controversial student expression at any school event attended by parents and others who feel obligated to be present because of the importance of the event for the participating students. A decision with such potentially broad and troubling implications merits our review.”