Rob Sherman Advocacy 
Rob Sherman Advocacy Here are the litigation documents from Sherman v. THSD 214. Once again, the challenged law is not, in any way, shape or form, a voluntary moment of silence law. The "Student Prayer Act" is a mandatory school prayer law. All Illinois public school teachers are required to lead their students in a period of silent prayer "at the opening of every school day, with the participation of all the pupils therein assembled." Those who refuse to pray are permitted to engage in one very limited and narrowly defined alternative activity, namely "silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day," but the clear purpose of the sponsors of the mandatory Student Prayer Act, with its requirement that students pray except for those who refuse to do so, is Christians attempting to inject as much prayer as possible into the public school classroom, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.
Here are those litigation documents, along with my layman's attempt at describing, for readers who are not lawyers, the meaning and purpose of the types of documents presented. I'm not a lawyer, so I disclaim responsibility for the accuracy of these descriptions if they are not precisely accurate. If you are a lawyer and you'd like to volunteer better descriptions for me, please send them to me at rob@robsherman.com .
The litigation documents are .jpg files. They may appear small on your screen, but if you move your cursor over the document, you should get a + sign in a circle. Click on the document to make the document enlarge so you can read it. You may also wish to re-size your screen while you do this (in Windows XP, Settings, Control Panel, Display, Settings, Screen Resolution) so that all of the enlarged image appears on your screen at one time for easier reading.
It starts with a Notice of Motion and Certificate of Service. A Notice of Motion is a required form where one party (such as the Plaintiff) to a court case informs, or "gives notice," to all opposing parties (such as all of the Defendants), that they've scheduled a hearing before a judge, at which time the Moving Party will ask the judge to rule in favor of the Moving Party with regards to the Motion that is attached to the Notice of Motion. The Notice of Motion is usually served upon the lawyer for each of the opponents, rather than upon the opponents, directly. Two copies of all this is also filed with the Clerk of the Court, who gives a copy to the Judge, who is supposed to read the documents before the court hearing so he knows what issues are being presented when the hearing on the Motion takes place. The Certificate of Service is another required form that affirms that the Moving Party has served the Notice of Motion and attached Motion upon the other party or parties to the litigation. To give you your chance to be Shadow Judge of our case or Shadow Attorney on your choice of sides in our case, here is our Notice of Motion and Certificate of Service, Page 1 and Page 2.
We filed a Plaintiff's Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and/or Preliminary Injunction. This document asks the judge to issue a court Order stopping School District 214 from implementing the provisions of the Student Prayer Act until such time as the case is decided on the merits. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
Next is the Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief. In Federal Court, the Complaint explains the basics of what the case is all about, what the legal basis is for our assertion that Federal Court has jurisdiction in this case, an explanation of who the Parties to the case are, and what we're asking the Court to do for us. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8
Next are an Affidavit for Dawn
and an Affidavit for Robert. The affidavits affirm that we are who we say
we are, that we are affected in the ways that we claim to be, and the we are
telling the truth about everything.
Dawn's Affidavit Page 1 and
Page 2.
Robert's Affidavit Page 1 and
Page 2.
Next is our Plaintiff's
Memorandum in Support of Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and/or
Preliminary Injunction. This is our argument in the case of why the judge
should rule in our favor on every issue. This is the main part of our
case.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Finally, for today anyway, Page 7 of the Memorandum, above, made reference to the motives of Senator James Meeks in co-sponsoring the mandatory public school prayer law. We included in our brief, as an "Exhibit," this page, which is Page 3 from Senator/Pastor Meeks' biography on his Salem Baptist Church web site. At the top of that page, there is a link to go back to Page 1 of Senator/Pastor Meeks' biography.
Anybody who has ever served on Jury Duty knows that you should not form any final conclusion about the merits of a case until you've heard from both sides. Be sure to ask our opponents for copies of their filings, and then decide that we're right after viewing their filings.
