Recent Development by Andrea Albright
Since at least 1973, the Tangipahoa Parish School Board has opened each meeting with a prayer. Doe, a parish resident whose children attended Tangipahoa Parish public high schools, challenged the constitutionality of this practice on his own behalf and as next friend of his minor children. The Does alleged the practice violated the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. The case appeared before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and it was tried on stipulations. The district court judged the case on the merits and issued an order permanently enjoining the practice. Upon appeal, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that the plaintiffs had standing to sue and that the prayers violated the Establishment Clause.
Although the stipulations contained four prayers said at school board meetings, the stipulations contained no indication that the Does attended school board meetings opened with similar prayers. The Does filed an amended complaint (filed before the original complaint had been answered) alleging that they attended school board meetings that were opened with prayer. The defendant School Board initially contested plaintiffs' alleged attendance because it lacked sufficient information to confirm the allegation. Seven months later, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana issued a pretrial order containing a list of “Contested Issues of Fact.” The Does' allegations of attendance at school board meetings were not among the contested facts on the list.
Rehearing the case en banc, the Fifth Circuit focused on the plaintiffs' claims to standing and declined to rule on the Establishment Clause question. Over a vigorous dissent by seven of fifteen judges, the Fifth Circuit ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue, vacated the district court's rulings, and remanded the case with instructions to dismiss. The Fifth Circuit held that, because the record failed to make a correlation between the Does' attendance at school board meetings and the allegedly unconstitutional practice, the plaintiffs had not proven personal injury traceable to the challenged action and, therefore, did not have standing to sue. Doe v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board, 494 F.3d 494, 499 (5th Cir. 2007).
About the Author
Andrea Albright. J.D. candidate 2009, Tulane University School of Law; M.A. 2005, The University of Arizona; B.S. 2000, Louisiana State University.
Citation
82 Tul. L. Rev. 2457 (2008)