Justices Deny Review over Students’ Religious Messages in Classroom
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case involving elementary school students who passed out religious-themed gifts during school. CNN’s Bill Mears reports that a federal appeals court in Texas had previously sided with the public school officials who prevented a student from handing out bags containing pens “in the shape of a candy cane with a Christian message that read in part: ‘Every time you see a candy cane, remember the message of the candy maker: Jesus is the Christ!’” Mears writes, “[a]t issue was whether school officials can be sued for violating the First Amendment rights of what the students claimed was their ‘private, non-curricular speech based solely upon its religious viewpoint.’”