Supreme Court Denies Cert. In Religious Music Case Over Alito Dissent

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Nurre v. Whitehead, (Docket No. 09-671, March 22, 2010). 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.) Justice Alito filed a rare dissent to the denial of review. He argued:

A reasonable reading of the Ninth Circuit’s decision is that it authorizes school administrators to ban any controversial student expression at any school event attended by parents and others who feel obligated to be present because of the importance of theevent for the participating students. A decision with such potentially broad and troubling implications merits our review.

National Law Journal reported on the cert. denial.