Scalia: Holding Public School Graduations in Church May Offend Some, But So Does ‘the Playing in Public of Rock Music’

The
U.S. Supreme Court declined yesterday to take up the case of
Elmbrook School District v. John Doe. At issue was a
Milwaukee public school district’s practice of holding high school
graduation ceremonies in a local church. According to the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, that decision violated the
First Amendment’s stricture against the establishment of religion.
“An unacceptable amount of religious endorsement and coercion
occurred when the District held important civil ceremonies in the
proselytizing environment of Elmbrook Church,” the 7th Circuit

ruled. Because the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the
district’s appeal, that decision by the 7th Circuit will stand.

There was, however, a dissent. Although the Supreme Court denies
most cases without comment, Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by
Justice Clarence Thomas, took the rare step in this case of filing
a written opinion
dissenting from the Court’s denial. In it, Scalia made clear
his sympathies were on the side of the school district and that he
saw little evidence of a constitutional violation. “Some there
are—many, perhaps—who are offended by public displays of religion,”
Scalia wrote. “I can understand that attitude: It parallels my own
toward the playing in public of rock music or Stravinsky.” But, he
declared, “my own aversion cannot be imposed by law because of the
First Amendment.”