High Court Turns Down Religious-Music Case

Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to take up a case involving religious music at a public school graduation ceremony, but a dissenting justice warned that a lower court’s ruling will restrict student speech rights.

Also, the justices ruled in favor of a student debtor in a case involving student loans and bankruptcy that was being watched closely by many in banking and higher education.

In the religious-music case, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented from the court’s refusal to hear the appeal of Kathryn Nurre, who along with other members of a student wind ensemble sought to perform an instrumental version of “Ave Maria” at the 2006 graduation ceremony of Henry M. Jackson High School in Everett, Wash. The version was a lesser-known one composed by Franz Biebl that had been performed at other school events...