Supreme Court struck down student-led prayer at school football games
In Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290 (2000), the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that the Texas district's policy of student-led, student-initiated prayer over the public-address system before football games violated the Establishment Clause. The plaintiffs included Catholic and Mormon students who sued anonymously after being subjected to overtly sectarian prayers.
Santa Fe ISD, near Galveston, Texas, allowed a student 'chaplain' elected by classmates to deliver an invocation over the stadium PA before varsity football games. Two families — one Mormon, one Catholic — sued anonymously as 'Does,' citing both Establishment Clause concerns and incidents of religious harassment toward their children. The Supreme Court held 6–3 in 2000 that the policy facially violated the Establishment Clause because the speech was authorized by a government policy, took place on government property, and at a government-sponsored school event.