Moment of silence back in effect in Ill. schools

[January 15, 2011]  CHICAGO (AP) -- An Illinois law requiring a daily moment of silence in public schools is back in effect after a two-year hiatus.

Federal Judge Robert Gettleman lifted an injunction on the law's enforcement and the State Board of Education notified districts Friday, a day later.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled in October that the law approved in 2007 is constitutional, because it doesn't specify prayer. The decision reversed a 2009 ruling by Gettleman calling the law unconstitutional.

The court said legislators stressed the moment of silence's secular and practical purpose in settling students down at the start of the school day.

Parent Rob Sherman, an atheist who filed a challenge to the law, says he plans to fight it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[Associated Press]

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