Court says coach’s kneeling endorses religion

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A decision by the East Brunswick High School football coach to bow his head and kneel during student-led pre-game prayers represents an endorsement of religious activity at a public school event, a federal appeals court ruled April 15. Marcus Borden, 53, who has coached the Middlesex County, N.J., team since 1983, found himself in the center of an intense debate about prayer and school athletics in 2005 after parents complained to the district that he prayed with students at pasta dinners on Friday afternoons and in the locker room before games.

Borden quit his coaching job amid the controversy, then rescinded his resignation and vowed to fight new district policies that targeted employees’ involvement in prayer. On April 15, Borden’s lawyer vowed to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case after three appeals court judges unanimously overturned a lower court ruling in Borden’s favor, but issued three separate reasonings. The case began in November 2005 when Borden filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the district’s regulations were overly broad. He won a district court ruling in July 2006 deeming those rules unconstitutional. But the federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals panel overturned that decision.