The federal judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Superintendent of State Schools Ryan Walters for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with which he had many public disagreements.
US District Judge John F. Heil III Muskogee issued his ruling on Wednesday, August 13, saying that Walters and the taxpayers’ funded agency headed by the Oklahoma Department of Education could not be proved. Heil also found that the court lacks jurisdiction. The case was rejected without prejudice, which means that it can be used.
In a court action filed on March 31, Walters complained of a fund sending letters to two Oklahoma school districts about the public prayer in Vienna, Achilles in public schools and hiring an athletic team chaplain in another school in Putnam. The Foundation believed that those situations were unconstitutional. Walters, who pushed the Bible teaching in the Oklahoma classes, disagreed.
Heil stated that the application “does not state that (agency) has ceased to perform its duties or to terminate the administration of Oklahoma state schools regarding the defendant’s letters.
He added: “A joint statement by the plaintiffs’ injury is nothing more than guesses.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, Madison, called Heil’s resolution as a “victory of freedom of freedom”. Chairwoman Annie Laurie Gaylor said she would “continue to try to protect the constitutional rights of students and families in Oklahoma.”
Megan Lambert, the Director of Law of the Oklahoma Union of the American Citizens’ Freedom Union, who helped represent the fund in the application, said the decision emphasizes the right to speak for the change.
“Law is now more important to disagreement than ever, and we continue to be committed to ensuring that people can continue to defend better management and justice in Oklahoma public schools,” Lambert said. “The Department of Education of Oklahoma has no power to silence disagreements.”
The Federal Judge rejected the court proceedings submitted by the superintendent of public schools Ryan Walters and his agency against the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Walters responded to the request to comment on Heil’s decision on Thursday, August 14, announcing a statement repeating his support for Christian values.
“For many years and at the request of Democrats, Christianity is attacked in America,” Walters said. “And through all this because of the attack on Christian values, everything we hear from the left is applause. There will never be a day when I will let these values be tamed at Oklahoma.”
In a letter to Achille Superintendent Rick Bene dated December 17th. The Foundation stated from the complaint that the applicant had learned that their child’s history teacher “is now starting the class, choosing a Bible poem for the day and asking a student to read the poem to the class” and that the district “has customs and practice from each day of school with” compulsory student -led prayer “through the school intercom system.”
Achille, located in the Bryan Countess in Southeast Oklahoma, has about 300 students in their area.
The claim was included in 2018. February A letter sent from the Foundation to the Putnam City District on the football team chaplain, but the claim did not request any relief for that letter.
Walters claimed that the fund’s letters had interfered with the “superintendent Walters and OSDE’s laws to supervise the Oklahoma state schools and their duty to implement the teaching program standards, to investigate all complaints before Oklahoma School, and his students and parents.”
Walters and the Freedom Foundation have previously encountered questions, including prayer about the school at Domofon Prague and the Bible entrepreneurs’ poster in Putnamo City Secondary School. The Foundation cites a long -term precedent for a court that determines the separation of the Church and the State.
This article was updated as the previous version was inaccuracy.
This article initially appeared to Oklahoman: Judge Masses is looking for a lawsuit filed by Ryan Walters for letters sent to schools