''Bown v. Gwinnett County School District'', 112

F.3d The ''Federal Reporter'' () is a case law reporter in the United States that is published by West Publishing and a part of the National Reporter System. It begins with cases decided in 1880; pre-1880 cases were later retroactively compiled by We ...

1464 (11th Cir. 1997), refers to an Eleventh Circuit Court case in which the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...

, Brian Bown, a school teacher, challenged as an unconstitutional

Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...

violation

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

's law requiring a " Moment of Quiet Reflection". The Court ruled that the Moment of Quiet Reflection was not unconstitutional. The Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari for an appeal.

Background

The State of Georgia passed the Moment of Quiet Reflection in Schools Act, which came into effect in 1994. The law did not require or endorse

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...

,Brockman, D. "A Moment of Silence: The Trojan Horse of Our Age."
/ref> saying that it "is not intended to be and shall not be conducted as a religious service or exercise". Public school teacher Brian Bown challenged the Act. He sued the Gwinnett County School District, alleging that the law was an

violation implicitly requiring school prayer. At trial, the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (in case citations, N.D. Ga.) is a United States district court which serves the residents of forty-six counties. These are divided up into four divisions. Appeals from cases ...

ruled that the Act did not violate the establishment clause.

Opinion of the Court

The Eleventh Circuit Court heard the case and ruled that the Act did not violate the Establishment Clause, holding that it did not violate any of the three prongs of the

Lemon test ''Lemon v. Kurtzman'', 403 U.S. 602 (1971), was a case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States.. The court ruled in an 8–0 decision that Pennsylvania's Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act (represented through David Kurtz ...

.Joan DelFattore

174 (2004); Mary Ellen Vales
''Stuck in a Moment (of Silence): The Seventh Circuit's Misapplication of the Void for Vagueness Doctrine to the Illinois Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act''
, 6 429, 434-35 (2011).

References

External links

* 1997 in United States case law United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit cases Education in Gwinnett County, Georgia Establishment Clause case law {{US-case-law-stub