Although there is some confusion, the U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled against student led prayer, including at graduation ceremonies. In 1962, the Court ruled in Engel v. Vitale against a government mandated prayer. Specifically, the New York Board of Regents was challenged for ordering children to begin the day in public school by praying this simple prayer:

"Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and beg Thy blessings upon us, our teachers, and our Country."

The Court ruled that this was a violation of the First Amendment’s second clause, "respecting the establishment of religion." The Court ruled that, because this amendment (and the rest of the Bill of Rights) was made applicable by the Fourteenth Amendment, state officials may not compose an official state prayer and require that it be recited in the public schools at the beginning of each day—even if the prayer is denominationally neutral and pupils who wish to do so may remain silent or be excused from the room while the prayer is being recited.

As the Court has explained in several cases, "there is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the Establishment Clause forbids, and private speech endorsing religion, which the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect" (Santa Fe Independent School District. v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290, 302 (2000)).

The Court recognizes that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate" (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. 393 U.S. 503, 506).

Liberty Council’s Legal Memo on Graduation Prayer notes: "The Court’s decision in Lee v. Weisman has caused some confusion as to whether prayers are permissible at graduation. To understand what is prohibited by the United States Supreme Court decision in Lee v. Weisman, it is important to know some of the history regarding the case. The Supreme Court’s decision focused on the following three factors: (1) the school principal decided that an invocation and benediction would be given at the ceremony and placed prayer on the agenda; (2) the principal chose the religious participant; and (3) the principal provided the clergyman with a copy of Guidelines for Civic Occasions, produced by the National Council of Christians and Jews, outlining suggestions for delivering nonsectarian prayers. The Court found that these three factors placed the school in the position of guiding and directing the content of the prayer during a public ceremony.

"What the Supreme Court prohibited can be summarized as follows: School officials cannot direct that prayer be part of a public school graduation ceremony, select a religious participant for the express purpose of delivering a prayer, and give guidelines on how to say a nonsectarian, non-proselytizing prayer. In practical terms, a public school cannot invite a clergyman to say a prayer at a graduation ceremony and direct the content or manner of the prayer. As an additional note, the Lee decision does not affect graduation prayers at post-secondary schools, that is, the college or university."

Liberty Council sites three ways prayer can be included in graduation ceremonies "(1) Student messages (where a student rather than an adult is selected to pray at the service); (2) Student selected by religious-neutral criteria (such as a Valedictorian, Salutatorian, Class President, or other student includes prayer as a part of his message; (3) An outside speaker selected by religion-neutral criteria (the speaker chooses to include prayer in his message); and (4) A privately held graduation (sponsored by groups other than the school, such as churches in the community)". Any one of these options would allow prayer to be given at graduation.

Christian students need to stand up for their right to pray at graduation. In order to help them do so, Liberty Council has launched its annual "Friend or Foe" Graduation Prayer Campaign seeking to educate and, if necessary, litigate to ensure that prayer and religious viewpoints are not suppressed during public graduation ceremonies. Liberty Council will be the "friend" of school districts that recognize the free speech rights of students and invited speakers and the "foe" of those that violate their constitutional rights.