Banner Day in Court for Kountze Cheerleaders

Judge Grants Motion For Temporary Injunction in Kountze ISD Case During Today's Hearing, Allowing Cheerleaders to Continue Making and Displaying Banners with Religious Messages

KOUNTZE, Texas, Oct. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Liberty Institute and Beaumont attorney David Starnes on behalf of the Kountze ISD cheerleaders were granted a temporary injunction that will allow student-made religious banners to continue for the duration of the Kountze Lions football season and until the court makes a final decision in the case. A Hardin County district court judge announced his ruling in the cheerleaders' favor during a scheduled hearing in Kountze, TX, one day before the high school varsity football team's Friday night home game. Full trial is set for June 24, 2013.

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"We came into today's hearing optimistic, and our hopes were fulfilled by the judge's decision to grant a temporary injunction on the KISD's ban on religious banners," said Mike Johnson, Senior Counsel for Liberty Institute. "No student should ever have to leave his or her religious expression at the school house gate. Thanks to this victory the bullying tactics will stop and an entire school district can exercise free speech without government censorship."

Beginning in September, the town of Kountze, TX, located 85 miles north of Houston, burst into a firestorm of media attention after the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation complained to Kountze ISD Superintendent Kevin Weldon about the students making and displaying run-through banners containing religious messages. Weldon placed a district-wide ban on the religious banners until Starnes and Liberty Institute, on behalf of the cheerleaders, pursued and were granted a temporary restraining order that allowed cheerleaders, students and fans alike to continue encouraging their sports teams using religious banners.

Liberty Institute is a nonprofit legal group dedicated to defending and restoring religious liberty across America — in our schools, for our churches and throughout the public arena. Liberty's vision is to reestablish religious liberty in accordance with the principles of our Founding Fathers. For information, visit www.LibertyInstitute.org.

SOURCE Liberty Institute