{"id":18473,"date":"2023-09-28T12:54:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T12:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sasquatchnewsonline.com\/?p=18473"},"modified":"2023-09-28T12:54:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T12:54:58","slug":"arizona-school-board-member-files-first-amendment-lawsuit-after-being-banned-from-quoting-bible-verses-at-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sasquatchnewsonline.com\/?p=18473","title":{"rendered":"Arizona School Board Member Files First Amendment Lawsuit After Being Banned From Quoting Bible Verses at Meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Arizona school board member has filed a lawsuit against the Peoria Unified School District for allegedly violating her First Amendment rights by banning her from quoting the Bible during meetings.<\/h3>\n

The board member, Heather Rooks, was elected in January 2023.<\/p>\n

The First Liberty Institute, representing Rooks, said in a press release<\/a>, \u201cDuring each Peoria School Board meeting, the agenda includes a brief \u2018Board comments\u2019 period where individual board members may offer remarks of their own choosing. Since the beginning of her public service on the board, Ms. Rooks has opened her comments by quoting a short scripture from the Bible. The Peoria School Board subsequently received letters from anti-religious organizations demanding it stop Ms. Rooks from reading scripture.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August, Rooks was told by the school board chairman that she could no longer quote scripture during the meetings.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint<\/a>, \u201cRooks\u2019 recitation of a Bible passage, without comment, elaboration, or proselytization, during her Board comments doesn\u2019t violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint notes that the Establishment Clause states, \u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. Rooks\u2019 practice accords with over 200 years of this Nation\u2019s historical practices and understandings. See Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783, 786 (1983) (\u2018The opening of sessions of legislative and other deliberative public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country.\u2019). Public officials from Presidents Washington and Lincoln up through President Biden routinely recited scriptures while performing their official duties.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe District\u2019s official policy and actions\u2014which purport to ensure Rooks does \u2018not read scripture\u2019 or \u2018offer bible verses\u2019\u2014regulate her speech based on its content, message, and viewpoint,\u201d the lawsuit states. \u201cThe District\u2019s policies and actions therefore chill her ability to freely speak, in violation of the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Gould, Senior Counsel at First Liberty said of the lawsuit, \u201cHeather takes her responsibilities serving the parents and students in her community seriously, and quotes Bible verses as a source of courage and strength in performing those duties. Like so many dedicated public leaders throughout our history, Heather most certainly can use inspirational quotes from religious, historical, and philosophical sources and figures as a source of personal inspiration, as well and encouragement to the community at-large.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rooks said in a statement, \u201cI am grateful to be a part of the Peoria Unified School board. As a member of the school board, I understand the weight and significance of all of our decisions, and simply find quoting scripture out loud to be encouraging to myself and to many in attendance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is asking the court to declare that Rooks is entitled to absolute legislative immunity for her recitation of scripture during Board comments, \u201cnominal damages for the past violations of her rights and for the District\u2019s violation of Arizona\u2019s Free Exercise of Religion Act,\u201d and attorneys fees.<\/p>\n

The post Arizona School Board Member Files First Amendment Lawsuit After Being Banned From Quoting Bible Verses at Meetings<\/a> appeared first on The Gateway Pundit<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Arizona school board member has filed a lawsuit against the Peoria Unified School District for allegedly violating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nArizona School Board Member Files First Amendment Lawsuit After Being Banned From Quoting Bible Verses at Meetings - Sasquatch News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sasquatchnewsonline.com\/?p=18473\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arizona School Board Member Files First Amendment Lawsuit After Being Banned From Quoting Bible Verses at Meetings - 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