Written by Don Byrd
You may remember recent reference to Fred Biery, a District Court Judge in Texas who has been vilified by presidential candidate Newt Gingrich over his rulings in a graduation prayer dispute. His method of enforcing church-state separation so offended Gingrich that he used Biery as Exhibit A in his plan to have judges arrested and brought before Congress to explain themselves for such rulings.
While the rest of us were distracted by contraception talk, Judge Biery was approving a settlement in the case that caused Gingrich such consternation. The Judge’s order in Schultz v. Medina authorizes an agreement between the parties that will allow a student speaker at graduation to speak their mind without school officials’ interference, so long as a disclaimer distances the views expressed by the student from those of the school, and so long as school officials on stage do not participate in any prayer the student may decide to lead.
All in all, a messy solution to a messy case.
Most notable is what else the Judge decided to include in his order (via Religion Clause). There’s a very unusual appendix on church-state history. Then as an addendum to the order, he writes:
During the course of this litigation, many have played a part:
To the United States Marshal Service and local police who have provided heightened security: Thank you.
To those Christians who have venomously and vomitously cursed the Court family and threatened bodily harm and assassination: In His name, I forgive you.
To those who have prayed for my death: Your prayers will someday be answered, as inevitably trumps probability.
To those in the executive and legislative branches of government who have demagogued this case for their own political goals: You should be ashamed of yourselves.
To the lawyers who have advocated professionally and respectfully for their clients’ respective positions: Bless you.
