A Southern California school district filed a motion to remove an injunction that prohibits the district from opening its school board meetings with prayer.

Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD)—backed by religious liberty law firm Advocates for Faith & Freedom—is fighting a ruling which resulted from a 2018 9th Circuit Court ruling that banned prayer at school board meetings. At issue is whether the “Lemon test”—a largely invalidated standard to determine when the government is guilty of violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment—is still relevant to the case.

In 2022, a Supreme Court decision largely abandoned the Lemon test. Instead, the court ruled that “historical practices and understandings” should replace the Lemon test to determine whether a governmental action violates the Establishment Clause—a move considered friendlier to religious speech in the public square.

CVUSD’s case dates back more than a decade, after the district’s “long followed practice of inviting members of all local clergy of all faiths to provide invocations at Board of Education meetings” was challenged by the Freedom from Religion Foundation and other left-wing groups. CVUSD’s policy did not require individuals to partake in the invocation. However, the 9th Circuit, in a 2018 ruling, said praying at such meetings violated the Establishment Clause, based on the Lemon test.

CVUSD’s challenge, filed on July 31, argues that with the recent nullification of the Lemon test, the ban no longer stands.

The document states that they are seeking relief “[b]ecause history, tradition, and common sense demonstrate that invocations done to solemnize an occasion and unify government employees prior to a school board session is rooted in our Nation’s history.”

Robert Tyler, attorney at Advocates for Faith & Freedom, believes the freedom to pray at such events was normative in the nation’s founding.

“This injunction was based on a now-overturned legal doctrine and suppresses a practice that has been part of our nation’s fabric since its inception,” said Tyler. “The Supreme Court has made it clear that the history and traditions of our country should guide our understanding of the Establishment Clause. Chino Valley Unified School District is right to challenge this injunction and restore the rightful place of invocations in its school board meetings.”

Above: Chino Valley Unified School Board President Sonja Shaw who is fighting ban of prayer in school board meetings.

Photo: Sonja Shaw Facebook