ACLJ Landmark Victory: Federal Appeals Court Unanimously Protects Teacher’s Right to Pray

In a landmark decision handed down yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously ruled that a Texas schoolteacher has the constitutional right to pray on school grounds – and that her principal violated clearly established law when he ordered her to stop.

The decision in Barber v. Rounds is a major victory – not just for our client, teacher Staci Barber – but for every public school teacher in America who has ever been afraid to bow their head in prayer because a student might see them.

The ACLJ has been fighting for Staci since the very beginning. When her principal first silenced her prayer in September 2023, banning her from praying at the pole, we immediately took action – sending a demand letter to the school demanding they stop violating her First Amendment rights. The school refused to correct its conduct or preserve our client’s rights, and we had no choice but to act. We filed a federal lawsuit in March 2024.

Staci is a longtime teacher at Cardiff Junior High in the Katy Independent School District in Texas and a committed Christian. In September 2023, she invited fellow staff members to join her in a brief prayer near the school flagpole for See You at the Pole before the school day began – as she had done every year for three years prior.

Her principal, Bryan Scott Rounds, responded by telling her – and all staff – that district policy prohibited employees from “praying with or in the presence of students.” He told her that even if no students were present at the flagpole, teachers waiting at the building’s front entrance meant that any teacher prayer on campus was off-limits. When Staci and a few colleagues went ahead and prayed anyway, Rounds stopped them from praying, interrupting them and pulling them into a conference room where he repeated his directive: Teachers may not pray where students “might see” or “be influenced by” their conduct.

Take action with the ACLJ. Add your name to the petition: Defeat the Left’s War Against Christians.

In March 2025, the federal district court dealt the school its first major defeat – rejecting the school’s motion to dismiss and refusing to grant Principal Rounds qualified immunity. The court specifically found that Kennedy v. Bremerton clearly established that what Rounds did was unconstitutional. Rounds then appealed that ruling to the Fifth Circuit – and that is where today’s unanimous victory was won.

Today a unanimous three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit agreed with us. The court held that Rounds imposed an unconstitutional, visibility-based prohibition on Staci’s private religious expression – a ban with no basis in law. Relying on the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the court held that a school employee’s right to engage in personal prayer outside of official duties is “doubly protected” by both the Free Speech Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The court ruled that this right was clearly established when Rounds acted, meaning he had no legal cover. His claim of qualified immunity was denied. The court emphasized, “Kennedy clearly established that school officials may not impose categorical, visibility-based restrictions on an employee’s private religious expression or exercise outside official duties.”

The court’s reasoning was sweeping: The Constitution does not permit a school official to silence a teacher’s private, personal prayer simply because a student might see it:

As in Kennedy, a schoolteacher sought to engage in personal prayer outside instructional time, and the school district imposed categorical restrictions on her religious expression based solely on the possibility that students might be “in the vicinity.” . . . Kennedy thus supports the conclusion that Barber’s complaint plausibly describes conduct that, if proven, would violate her First Amendment rights.

This is not just Staci’s victory. It is a victory for public school teachers across the country. There are millions of public school teachers in the United States. Many of them are people of faith who simply want to live out their faith authentically, even while at work. For years, school administrators have operated under the mistaken assumption that any visible expression of religion by a school employee is constitutionally suspect. Today’s ruling makes clear that assumption is wrong. Any school administrator who tries to impose a similar visibility-based ban on teacher prayer is now on clear notice from the appellate courts: That ban is unconstitutional.

The case now returns to the federal district court in Houston, where Staci’s First Amendment claims – along with her remaining claims against the district itself – will move forward. We will continue to fight alongside her every step of the way. The Constitution does not stop at the schoolhouse gate – and neither do we.