Nurre v. Whitehead, 09-671.
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
| Citation | 130 S.Ct. 1937 |
| Docket Number | No. 09-671.,09-671. |
| Parties | Kathryn NURRE, Petitioner, v. Carol WHITEHEAD, individually and in her official capacity as the Superintendent of Everett School District No. 2. |
| Decision Date | 22 March 2010 |
130 S.Ct. 1937
Kathryn NURRE, Petitioner,
v.
Carol WHITEHEAD, individually and in her official capacity as the Superintendent of Everett School District No. 2.
No. 09-671.
Supreme Court of United States.
March 22, 2010.
Justice ALITO, dissenting from denial of certiorari.
The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
The Ninth Circuit's decision in this case is not easy to square with our free speech jurisprudence. For this reason and because of the decision's important practical implications, I would grant the petition for a writ of certiorari.
I
At the time of the events at issue, petitioner, Kathryn Nurre, was a high school senior and a member of her school's wind ensemble. In keeping with a school tradition, the school's band director told the seniors in the ensemble that they could select a piece from their musical repertoire to be performed during their graduation ceremony. The 2006 graduates, including petitioner, chose Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria,"1 a piece that they had previously
performed and that "they believed showcased their talent and the culmination of their instrumental work." 580 F.3d 1087, 1091 (C.A.9 2009). At the prior year's graduation ceremony, the student choir had performed "`Up Above My Head,' a vocal piece which included express references to `God,' `heaven,' and `angels,'" and the school district claimed that this had resulted in "complaints from graduation attendees" and at least one angry letter to the editor of a local newspaper. Ibid.; id., at 1101 (M. Smith, J., dissenting in part and concurring in judgment) (quoting lyrics); see also Brief in Opposition 7, and n. 28. Fearful that the performance of Biebl's "Ave Maria" would cause a similar reaction, even though the performance would not include the lyrics of the piece, school district officials vetoed the ensemble members' choice "because the title and meaning of the piece had religious connotations
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