[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 21 (Tuesday, March 1, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1873-S1875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CORNYN:
  S. 483. A bill to strengthen religious liberty and combat government 
hostility to expressions of faith, by extending the research of The 
Equal Access Act to elementary schools; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation to expand 
the scope of the Equal Access Act, which Congress enacted in 1984 to 
guarantee equal access for religious and other organizations to the 
facilities of public secondary schools that receive Federal funding.
  Tomorrow morning, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear 
oral argument in two cases involving the right of State and local 
governments to erect a public display of the Ten Commandments. One of 
those cases, Van Orden v. Perry, involves the public display at the 
State capitol grounds of my home State, the great State of Texas. The 
other case, McCreary County v. ACLU, arises out of the State of 
Kentucky.
  These two cases are reminiscent of the Supreme Court's consideration 
last year of the Pledge of Allegiance--which contains the words ``under 
god''--in the matter of Elk Grove Unified School District v., Newdow. 
The

[[Page S1874]]

Court rejected the challenge to the Pledge of Allegiance in that case, 
but strictly on procedural grounds. So the Pledge of Allegiance, like 
the Ten Commandments, remains under attack and under danger of forced 
removal from our public square by judicial fiat.
  We examined these issues at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary 
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights I 
chaired on June 8, 2004. The hearing was entitled ``Beyond the Pledge 
of Allegiance: Hostility to Religious Expression in the Public 
Square.''
  That hearing was important, because it reminded us of an even 
broader, more systemic problem caused by the Supreme Court's previous 
rulings, than just these disturbing attacks on the Pledge of Allegiance 
and the Ten Commandments--an unjustifiable hostility to religious 
expression in public squares across America.
  Just as there is bipartisan agreement on the constitutionality of the 
Pledge of Allegiance, so should there be bipartisan agreement that 
government should never be hostile to expressions of faith. As 
President Ronald Reagan stated in 1983: ``When our founding Fathers 
passed the First Amendment, they sought to protect churches from 
government interference. They never intended to construct a wall of 
hostility between government and the concept of religious belief 
itself.'' And as President Clinton noted in 1995: ``Americans feel that 
instead of celebrating their love for God in public, they're being 
forced to hide their faith behind closed doors. That's wrong. Americans 
should never have to hide their faith. but some Americans have been 
denied the right to express their religion and that has to stop. That 
has happened and it has to stop.''
  At the hearing, we heard from citizen witnesses and legal experts 
alike, who recounted example after example after example of government 
discrimination against religious expression generally--including both 
discrimination against religious versus non-religious expression in 
government speech, as well as discrimination against purely private 
expressions of faith. Just consider this sample of incidents throughout 
the Nation--incidents of hostility to religious expression in the 
public square:
  A 12-year-old elementary school student was reprimanded by a public 
school in St. Louis, MO for quietly saying a prayer before lunch in the 
school cafeteria, according to a federal lawsuit. The case was settled 
after the St. Louis School Board announced a new policy protecting the 
religious expression rights of students. St. Louis Post-dispatch, July 
11, 1996.
  A second grade school girl in Wisconsin was forbidden from 
distributing valentines during a Valentine's Day Exchange because her 
valentines happened to contain religious themes. After a Federal 
lawsuit was filed, the school district settled the suit by publishing 
an apology to the student in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal and issuing 
a new policy protecting the religious freedoms of its students. Capital 
Times, Madison, August 29, 2001.
  A kindergartener in Dayton, OH was forbidden by her public school 
teacher from distributing bags of jellybeans with an attached prayer to 
her classmates, according to a Federal lawsuit. Associated Press, 
February 8, 2004.
  Public high school students in Massachusetts started a Bible club and 
tried to hand out candy canes with a Biblical passage attached. The 
school suspended the students for distributing the candy canes. A 
federal district court issued a temporary injunction against the 
school. Westfield High Sch. L.I.F.E. Club v. City of Westfield, 249 F. 
Supp. 2d 98 D. Mass. 2003.
  A public school sixth grader in Boulder, CO tried to complete her 
book report assignment by presenting the Bible, but was forbidden from 
doing so by her teacher. She was also forbidden from bringing the Bible 
to school. Only after a lawsuit was threatened did the school 
eventually back down. Denver Post, December 13, 2002.
  According to a Federal lawsuit, a public school teacher at Lynn Lucas 
Middle School in Houston, TX, punished two sisters for carrying Bibles, 
confiscated and threw the Bibles into the trash, and threatened to call 
Child Protective Services, while another teacher forbade a third 
student from reading the Bible during free reading time and forced him 
to remove a Ten Commandments book cover from another book. The suit was 
ultimately resolved out of court. Houston Chronicle, May 24, 2000.
  As explained in her Senate testimony, Nashala Hearn, a 12-year-old 
girl in Muskogee, OK, was suspended for three days by her public middle 
school for wearing a hijab, a headscarf required by her Islamic faith. 
The school eventually backed down after intervention by the Justice 
Department. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil 
Rights and Property Rights, June 8, 2004.
  A Texas school district refused to hire a public school teacher for 
the position of assistant principal, because her children attended a 
private Christian school, in violation of the district's policy that 
the children of all principals and administrators attend public school. 
The district's policy was upheld by the Federal district court but 
subsequently rejected on appeal. Barrow V. Greenville Ind. Sch. Dist., 
332 F.3d 844 5th Cir. 2003.
  A Vietnam veteran and member of an honor guard at a New Jersey 
veterans' cemetery was fired for saying ``God bless you and this 
family'' to the family of a deceased veteran, even though the family 
had consented to the blessing beforehand. Winston-Salem Journal, April 
26, 2003.
  A public library employee in Logan County, KY, was fired for refusing 
to remove her cross-pendant necklace while at work. A Federal district 
court subsequently ruled that the library violated her constitutional 
rights. American Libraries, October 1, 2003.
  According to another federal lawsuit, an employee of the Minnesota 
State Department of Revenue is barred from parking his car in the 
employee parking lot, because his car displays religious messages such 
as ``God is a loving and caring God.'' Other employees are allowed to 
display nonreligious messages on their cars. The employee is similarly 
barred from displaying religious messages in his office cubicle, even 
though other employees are allowed to display nonreligious messages in 
their cubicles. Star-Tribune (Minneapolis), July 2, 2004.
  As he explained in his Senate testimony, Barney Clark and other 
members of the Balch Springs Senior Center in Balch Springs, Texas, 
were forbidden from singing religious songs and appointing someone to 
bless their food at the city-owned senior center. The city eventually 
backed down, but only after a federal lawsuit and intervention by the 
Justice Department. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, 
Civil Rights and Property Rights, June 8, 2004.
  I'm grateful to the Liberty Legal Institute, which has been an active 
champion of religious liberty, and which followed up on their testimony 
at the hearing last year by filing a 51-page report with the 
subcommittee last October. The Institute's report documented additional 
cases of hostility to religion in the public square, and noted the 
existence of a nationwide campaign to remove religious expressions from 
the public square--namely, liberal organizations in Washington that 
actively litigate against equal access for religious organizations in 
public schools, against school choice programs that give needy students 
equal access to parochial and nonsectarian schools alike, and against 
voluntary, student-led religious expression.
  Thankfully, and despite the efforts of these organizations, we are 
starting to win the battle for religious liberty and against hostility 
to religious expression. The Court has upheld equal access for 
religious organizations on a number of recent occasions--albeit 
frequently by narrow, 5-4 majorities--including cases like Rosenberger, 
Good News Club, Zelman, and Mitchell. And thankfully, the Equal Access 
Act of 1984 has been affirmed, upheld, and enforced.
  But the Equal Access Act applies only to postsecondary schools. It is 
time that equal access be extended to elementary schools as well, and 
that is why I introduce this legislation today. I know that Senators 
will be following closely the Supreme Court's consideration of the Ten 
Commandments cases and the people's right to display our nation's most 
revered documents in public squares across America. Regardless of the 
outcome of those cases. I hope that Senators will also support

[[Page S1875]]

this effort to extend equal access to all of our nation's public 
schools.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 483

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. EQUAL ACCESS FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

       The Equal Access Act (20 U.S.C. 4071 et seq.) is amended--
       (1) in section 802--
       (A) in subsection (a), by inserting ``elementary school 
     or'' after ``public''; and
       (B) in subsection (b), by inserting ``elementary school 
     or'' after ``public''; and
       (2) in section 803, by adding at the end the following:
       ``(5) The term `elementary school' means a public school 
     that provides elementary education as determined by State 
     law.''.
                                 ______