Attorney questions if school district complied with ruling

ELKHART, Ind. (AP) – An attorney who filed a lawsuit that led to a federal judge banning a northern Indiana school district from including a live Nativity scene in its annual Christmas show says he believes the district’s use of mannequins instead of student actors had many of the same constitutional flaws.

Freedom From Religion Foundation attorney Sam Grover says he believes the Concord Community Schools appeared to be “thumbing its nose at the spirit” of the preliminary ruling.

U.S. District Judge Jon DeGuilio issued a preliminary injunction to stop this year’s live scene. He ruled “the living Nativity scene impermissibly conveys an endorsement of religion and thus runs afoul of the Establishment Clause.”

School officials say the injunction only applied to a live scene and they complied with the judge’s order.