Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290, 14 (2000)

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Cite as: 530 U. S. 290 (2000)

Opinion of the Court

forums,12 it is clear that the pregame ceremony is not the type of forum discussed in those cases.13 The Santa Fe school officials simply do not "evince either 'by policy or by practice,' any intent to open the [pregame ceremony] to 'indiscriminate use,' . . . by the student body generally." Hazelwood School Dist. v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U. S. 260, 270 (1988) (quoting Perry Ed. Assn. v. Perry Local Educators' Assn., 460 U. S. 37, 47 (1983)). Rather, the school allows only one student, the same student for the entire season, to give the invocation. The statement or invocation, moreover, is subject to particular regulations that confine the content and topic of the student's message, see infra, at 306- 307, 309. By comparison, in Perry we rejected a claim that the school had created a limited public forum in its school mail system despite the fact that it had allowed far more speakers to address a much broader range of topics than the policy at issue here.14 As we concluded in Perry, "selective access does not transform government property into a public forum." 460 U. S., at 47.

12 See, e. g., Brief for Petitioner 44-48, citing Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U. S. 819 (1995) (limited public forum); Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U. S. 263 (1981) (limited public forum); Capitol Square Review and Advisory Bd. v. Pinette, 515 U. S. 753 (1995) (traditional public forum); Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School Dist., 508 U. S. 384 (1993) (limited public forum). Although the District relies on these public forum cases, it does not actually argue that the pregame ceremony constitutes such a forum.

13 A conclusion that the District had created a public forum would help shed light on whether the resulting speech is public or private, but we also note that we have never held the mere creation of a public forum shields the government entity from scrutiny under the Establishment Clause. See, e. g., Pinette, 515 U. S., at 772 (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment) ("I see no necessity to carve out . . . an exception to the endorsement test for the public forum context").

14 The school's internal mail system in Perry was open to various private organizations such as "[l]ocal parochial schools, church groups, YMCA's, and Cub Scout units." 460 U. S., at 39, n. 2.

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