www.LC.org

Liberty Counsel has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of Erica Corder, a Colorado valedictorian who was denied her diploma until she wrote an apology for mentioning Jesus in her high school graduation speech. 

Erica complied with the principal's demand for an apology because she feared the school would withhold her diploma, put disciplinary notes in her file, and generate negative publicity which could prevent her from becoming a school teacher. The principal sent the coerced apology to the entire school, and Erica received her diploma.

Erica sued the school, but the district court ruled that Erica’s speech was "school-sponsored," and thus the forced apology was not improper. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, but that decision undermines student free speech rights and conflicts with an Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision in a case that Liberty Counsel won after an 8½-year battle against the ACLU. 

In the case of Adler v. Duval County School Board, the entire 12-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that a policy whereby students select the content of their messages is student speech, not school-sponsored speech. Thus, religious viewpoints of students are protected by the First Amendment.

Please pray that the Supreme Court hears this case.

Read our News Release for more details.

Read Liberty Counsel's Petition to the Supreme Court.

Receive our Liberty Alerts via RSS 

Follow us on and 

Forward this Liberty Alert to your entire e-mail list of family and friends, and encourage them to subscribe.

Liberty Counsel does not charge clients for representation, so we depend on individuals, groups and churches who care about advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family. Liberty Counsel is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that accepts tax-deductible donations. Donate or order resources from the Liberty Counsel online store.