Under current case law, is prayer at public school graduation ceremonies constitutional?
Yes. Under current guidelines the school system, its employees, teachers, and officials must not be involved in determining whether to have prayer, selecting the prayer itself, or selecting the person to present the prayer. Moreover, the students may not collectively decide whether to have prayer. However, student speakers such as valedictorians or salutatorians can incorporate a prayer or other religious sentiment into their presentation. A deviation from this guideline is a case stemming from the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. That court recently held, in a disturbing ruling, that school officials could censor religious speech from a valedictorian’s graduation address. In Cole v. Oroville Union High School District, 228 F.3d 1092 (9th Cir. 2000), a valedictorian composed a speech which included many references to Jesus Christ. The school principal, who reviewed all student speeches to be given at graduation ceremonies, forbade the valedictorian from delivering the speech as
