Yesterday, First Liberty filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on behalf of our client Cambridge Christian School. The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) prohibited students from praying over the loudspeaker prior to their state championship football game.

We are asking the court to reverse a federal district court decision that allowed the FHSAA to enact this “Prayer Ban.”

Cambridge Christian School was censored simply because their prayer would have taken place over the loudspeaker at the Citrus Bowl. The state agency claimed that because the stadium is city-owned, it would violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution to allow two private Christian schools to pray over the public address system for less than a minute.

Instead of respecting these students’ First Amendment rights for religious expression, the FHSAA went out of their way to shut down this protected free speech.

Censorship like this is a blatant violation of our constitutional rights. Further, the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment gives American citizens the freedom to express religious speech—even on government property.

If censoring school prayer sounds familiar, we don’t have to look far into the past to remember that First Liberty has already fought and won at the U.S. Supreme Court for similar religious expression.

In June, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the right to religious expression on government property, including Coach Kennedy’s prayer at the 50-yard line. The justices have made it abundantly clear in this case and several others that the Establishment Clause is a complement to the free exercise of religion, not a restriction of it.

Together, we can fight the imminent threat of censorship on people of faith.

Your gift today keeps First Liberty on the frontlines of this fight so we can continue to protect clients just like Cambridge Christian School from brazen government overreach.