Judge dismisses lawsuit brought by Oklahoma school chief

OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by State Superintendent Ryan Walters against a group that works to enforce the separation of church and state.

Walters and the State Department of Education filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in March against the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

The nonprofit organization sent a letter to southeast Oklahoma’s Achille Public Schools in 2024 concerning school-sponsored prayers and Bible readings, asking that the practice be stopped.

It also sent a letter in 2018 to Putnam City Public Schools concerning a football team chaplain’s actions.

The Education Department’s suit alleged the actions interfered with its ability to govern public schools.

In a ruling filed Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge John F. Heil III said the lawsuit does not explain how the letters interfered with day-to-day operations in any real way.

Walters and the agency have failed to show any real injury, the order said.

“We are so pleased that Walters’ frivolous lawsuit seeking to muzzle FFRF and our free speech rights was promptly dismissed,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, the group’s co-president. “It was an outrageous attempt by a Christian nationalist public official to attack FFRF’s work to uphold the First Amendment.”

Walters said Christianity, at the behest of Democrats, is under attack.

“And during this all out assault on Christian values, all we hear from the left is applause,” Walters said. “There will never be a day where I allow these values to be trampled on in Oklahoma.”

Oklahoma Voice (oklahomavoice.com) is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. Oklahoma Voice provides nonpartisan reporting, and retains full editorial independence.