[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 130 (Tuesday, September 15, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H9540]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PACE HIGH SCHOOL PRAYER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, there is trouble brewing in the 
small community of Pace, Florida, a community of less than 8,000 people 
just south of my hometown, and full of hardworking Americans where I 
believe a Federal judge has gone well outside the bounds of the 
Constitution to declare that prayer offered among adults is illegal. 
That's right. The judicial branch is once again trying to act like the 
legislative branch, and in doing so is hindering the First Amendment 
rights of Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, I am not a lawyer and this is not a courtroom, but as a 
Member of Congress, I swore to support and defend the Constitution of 
the United States. And so help me God, that is what I intend to do.
  The facts of the case in Does v. School Board of Santa Rosa County 
are clear. The Federal district court, without a hearing, issued an 
injunction preventing any school employee from promoting or 
facilitating prayer at any school-sponsored event. That action alone 
tramples upon the First Amendment rights of a specific group of people, 
denying them the equal protection that is provided under the very 
Constitution that we believe in.
  The same Federal district court has now gone on to prohibit all 
employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities. The same 
court now thinks that Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic 
Director Robert Freeman violated this injunction at a private event 
with zero student participation. That the court would somehow consider 
this action to be criminal behavior is simply unconscionable.
  However, Frank Lay and Robert Freeman now face criminal contempt 
charges for praying before a meal that was to be shared. All of this 
despite the fact that the Supreme Court itself has found that the free 
speech clause protects private religious speech. The Supreme Court has 
further gone to find that not all religious speech that occurs in 
public schools or at a school-sponsored event is attributable to the 
government.
  As lawmakers, we cannot sit idly by and let this happen. As Members 
of Congress, we must act to uphold the Constitution. And as Americans, 
we must fight to ensure that our rights to freedom of religion and 
freedom of speech are not taken away.
  America is a Nation of principles. We can sit here all night and 
argue about whether we are a Nation of Judeo-Christian principles or of 
secular principles. But the fact is that our Constitution protects all 
Americans and a court has no place deciding that some Americans do not 
warrant those protections. The Founding Fathers would be appalled, and 
I certainly am as well.

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