Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 1, 1995 TAG: 9503010080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Justice John Paul Stevens rejected an attempt by school officials to postpone the effect of a federal judge's ruling that said display of the portrait violated the constitutionally required separation of church and state.
U.S. District Judge Benjamin Gibson on Feb. 3 ordered the framed print removed by today. The judge's ruling was sparked by a lawsuit filed in behalf of Eric Pensinger, a senior at Bloomingdale High School.
A federal appeals court refused Monday to postpone the deadline, but by that time the portrait already had been removed.
Because the request seeking relief from Stevens had been filed weeks ago and held in abeyance until the appeals court acted, lawyers for the Bloomingdale School Board said the portrait would have been irreparably damaged when removed from the wall.
In fact, it was not. Had Stevens granted the sought-after relief, school officials would have replaced the portrait, lawyer David R. Melton said Tuesday.
Stevens was asked to postpone the effect of Gibson's ruling until the full Supreme Court considers a formal appeal already filed.
The 2-by-3-foot portrait is a print of artist Warner Sallman's ``Head of Christ.''
Pensinger's lawsuit said the portrait's presence in a prominent part of the school suggested that his school endorses Christianity.
In his ruling, Gibson said, ``Any action of the state which, either directly or indirectly, conveys that religion, or a particular type of religion, is more accepted, respected or tolerated than any other value system has the potential to subtly coerce students to acquiesce to the promoted religion.''
by CNB