Cert. Filed In School's Ban of Student Musical Performance At Graduation

A petition for certiorari (full text) has been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Nurre v. Whitehead. In the case, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, held that school officials did not violate a student's free speech rights when they barred her from performing an instrumental version of Ave Maria at her Everett, Washington high school's graduation ceremony. (See prior posting.) In a press release announcing the filing of the petition for review, the Rutherford Institute expressed its concern that "arts education in the public schools is in danger of being sanitized of any art with remotely religious themes or inspiration." The petition describes the school's action as "political correctness run amuck, with art and student expression sacrificed to a heckler's veto...."