Court declines challenge to ‘moment of silence’

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case challenging a mandatory “moment of silence” in public schools.

By refusing the case, without comment, the high court left standing a ruling by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that the Virginia law does not violate the separation of church and state.

The year-old law requires teachers and students at public schools to observe a moment of silence at the beginning of each school day. In this case, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union argued the Virginia law is similar to an Alabama statute struck down by the high court in 1985.