Rob Sherman [Social activist, plaintiff in Sherman v. Township High School District 214]: "The real purpose of the Student Prayer Act was a "see, try and buy" marketing scam by Christian legislators. Christians already had the right to pray before, after and even during school. What they really wanted to accomplish through this law was to force a captive audience of non-religious kids to see the Christian kids praying, in the hope that the non-religious kids would then try it, too, and like it enough to buy into their religious lifestyle. This was all about marketing religion, and nothing about religious freedom.

As stated above, religious kids already had the right to pray, any time they want, even during school. What we atheists objected to was a law that required the teacher to stop teaching during instructional time so that the religious kids could waste time praying during class time instead of studying like they're supposed to be doing. We atheists certainly resented a law that requires us to waste our time, standing around doing nothing during what should be productive time, just so that Christian kids could make a sales pitch for religion.

When I learned that the judge was a former Board Member of the ACLU of Illinois, I knew that, basically, all we had to do was show up and we would win. If the Illinois Attorney General appeals, I'll surely lose, because the 7th Circuit is well known to be radically conservative, so I hope that she doesn't appeal.

As a result of the extreme politicization of our courts by the past three Republican presidents, the courts have lost all credibility. Court cases are decided on the basis of politics, not on the basis of the facts or the law. Most of us can predict the outcome of Supreme Court cases strictly on the basis of politics. Indeed, we can reliably predict not only how many votes each side will get, but also which justices will vote which way. When that happens, it says that court decisions truly are based on politics, not the merits."