Memeber will resume quoting Bible, lawyer says
An Arizona school board didn’t violate federal law by warning a member not to quote from the Bible during public meetings, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Michael T. Liburdi for the District of Arizona, a Trump appointee, ruled last week that board member Heather Rooks didn’t have standing to sue Peoria Unified School District after she was advised to stop quoting the Bible during board meetings.
Liburdi concluded that emailed instructions from the board to not quote Scripture during the meetings constituted “legal advice” from its attorney rather than unlawful censorship of speech.
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“Based on the content of the emails, it appears PUSD is correct: the emails are legal advice designed to explicitly warn board members about potential legal liability from third parties,” wrote the judge.
“Nowhere in the emails does it say the Board will refer board members to the Arizona Attorney General for reciting Bible verses. Nor does it say the Board President will cut a board member’s microphone at the mention of scripture.”
The ruling warned that “if the Court were to construe the type of advice provided in the emails as a threat, as Rooks suggests, it would risk chilling an entirely different type of speech — conversations between attorneys and their clients.”
Erin Smith, associate counsel for First Liberty Institute, which is representing Rooks, said in a statement that the school board has “backtracked” and will “allow her to say Bible verses going forward.”
“Heather plans to resume saying the Bible verses at the next board meeting, and appeal the district court’s ruling to ensure her speech remains protected,” Smith said in a statement Wednesday.
After taking office in January 2023, Rooks began a practice of quoting from the Bible during the board comments segment of public meetings, using verses from both the Old and New Testaments.
Her practice eventually garnered the attention of the Wisconsin-based church-state separation group Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sent a letter to the school board demanding that the Bible-quoting be stopped.
The school board and its attorney concluded that quoting Bible verses during the meetings might violate the Constitution and sent out emails recommending that Rooks stop doing so.
In September 2023, the First Liberty Institute and the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP filed a lawsuit against the Peoria USD on behalf of Rooks, arguing that her quoting Scripture during meetings was part of “a longstanding, well-accepted tradition” among public officials.
“Rooks’ practice accords with over 200 years of this Nation’s historical practices and understandings,” read the suit. “Public officials from Presidents Washington and Lincoln up through President Biden routinely recited scripture while performing their official duties.”
“Rooks doesn’t coerce or call for anyone else’s participation. She doesn’t ask for anyone to bow their heads, stand, or participate in reading. … This Court should declare that Rooks’ brief quotations of scripture during her Board comments time at public school board meetings do not violate the Establishment Clause.”
