Conservative group enters 'moment of silence' fight

The judge in the fight over Illinois' school moment of silence law had worried that the case lacked a staunch defender of the law.

Well, he's got one now.

The Alliance Defense Fund, the conservative equivalent of the ACLU, filed a motion this week seeking to weigh in on the matter as a friend of the court. It would join the Illinois attorney general's office in defending the law.

The development turns the case into the true adversarial proceeding that U.S. District Court Judge Robert Gettleman on Nov. 14 had complained was lacking in the case of whether a moment of silence in Illinois schools is constitutional.

The debate is over whether a state law mandating a school moment of silence, during which students can pray or contemplate the day's activities, is constitutional.

If the request is granted, that would bring to five the number of parties with a dog in the fight: The Illinois attorney general on behalf of the state schools superintendent, atheists Rob and Dawn Sherman of Buffalo Grove, Northwest Suburban High School District 214, the ACLU and the ADF.

The ACLU is not directly involved but was granted friend-of-the-court status earlier.

Jeremy Tedesco, legal counsel for the Arizona-based ADF, said appellate courts around the country are divided over whether such laws are legal. His group believes they are.

"It's important that each court that evaluates them gets it right," he said. "What law could be more freedom-oriented than one that says: 'Do what you want in this moment of silence.'?"

But Sherman and his daughter, a freshman at Buffalo Grove High School, say that since the law lists prayer as an option during the moment of silence, it's suggestive to students they must consider prayer. They say that's unconstitutional.

The next court date in the case is at 9 a.m. Monday before Gettleman.