Code of Alabama
Ala. Code § 16-1-20 (2026)
Period of Silence for Meditation at Beginning of First Class in Public Schools.
✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
At the commencement of the first class each day in the first through the sixth grades in all public schools, the teacher in charge of the room in which each such class is held shall announce that a period of silence, not to exceed one minute in duration, shall be observed for meditation, and during any such period silence shall be maintained and no activities engaged in.
(Acts 1978, No. 662, p. 955, § 1.)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9
cases, 1982–2003 · leading case: Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985).
Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985). “At issue in these appeals in the constitutional validity of an additional and subsequent Alabama statute, Ala. Code § 16-1-20.1 (Supp. 1984), which both the District Court and the Court of Appeals concluded was enacted solely to officially encourage prayer during the moment of…”
Clark v. State, 896 So. 2d 584 (Ala. Crim. App. 2003). “The Court struck down the statute not, as Clark contends, because a moment of silence by itself violates the First Amendment, but because the Alabama Legislature had effectively amended an already existing statute, § 16-1-20, Ala.Code 1975, which provided for a "period of…”
Chandler v. James, 958 F. Supp. 1550 (M.D. Ala. 1997). “This first statute, which provided for a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day, see Ala.Code § 16-1-20 (1995), was supplemented in 1981 by a statute which specifically provided that the moment of silence "shall be observed for meditation or voluntary prayer.”
Wallace, Governor of Alabama, Et Al. v. Jaffree Et Al.; & Smith Et Al. v. Jaffree Et Al., 466 U.S. 924 (1984). “In their amended complaint in this litigation, appellees sought (1) a judgment holding three statutory provisions, Ala. Code §§ 16-1-20 , 16-1-20.1,16-1-20.”
Jaffree v. James, 554 F. Supp. 1130 (S.D. Ala. 1983). “The complaint in this case challenges Senate Bill 8, Alabama Act 82-735, popularly known as “the Prayer Law”, Senate Bill 61 (1982), Ala.Code § 16-1-20 (silent meditation), and Ala.”
Jaffree by & Through Jaffree v. James, 544 F. Supp. 727 (S.D. Ala. 1982). “The Court does not find the same potential infirmity with § 16-1-20 for it is a statute which prescribes nothing more than a child in school shall have the right to meditate in silence and there is nothing wrong with a little meditation and quietness.”
May v. Cooperman, 780 F.2d 240 (3rd Cir. 1985). “Alabama Code § 16-1-20 (Supp.1984). In contrast with N.”
Chandler v. James, 958 F. Supp. 1550 (M.D. Ala. 1997). “This first statute, which provided for a moment of silence at the beginning of the school day, see Ala.Code § 16-1-20 (1995), was supplemented in 1981 by a statute which specifically provided that the moment of silence “shall be observed for meditation or voluntary prayer.”
Bown v. Gwinnett Cnty. Sch. Dist., 895 F. Supp. 1564 (N.D. Ga. 1995). “In that case, the parties agreed that Alabama's 1978 statute, Ala.Code § 16-1-20, was constitutional as it authorized a one minute period of silence in all public schools “for meditation.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.