Trial Held On Kindergartener's Jesus Poster

On Monday, a New York federal district court heard witnesses in Baldwinsville Central School District v. Peck, on remand from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. (See prior posting). The suit was filed after suburban Syracuse school officials folded a kindergarten student's environmental poster in half to hide a robed figure representing Jesus before displaying the poster at a school assembly. The Second Circuit sent the case back to the trial court to determine whether the school district had engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, and whether the school had a compelling interest to take the action it did. Mathew Staver, lawyer for the student's mother said "We think we have shown that a secular picture would not have been covered up and this was censored only because of its religious nature. And that is unlikely that anyone would have misconstrued the full display of Antonio's picture as the school district supporting the establishment of a religion." The Associated Press yesterday reported on the trial.