Donald Trump yesterday took the very Trumpian action of solving a problem that didn’t actually exist until he made it up, in this case involving religion and education (two things in which he appears to have no actual interest). But hurray– after today, students and teachers are free to pray in schools, which they were also free to do yesterday and last week and last year, etc etc etc. That’s why accounts have said it “updates” or “reinforces” the rules– because it doesn’t actually change a thing. There is one new wrinkle in today’s decree– school’s now have to provide a means of officially complaining if someone thinks their right to pray has been stomped on.
Well, there is one other wrinkle. Betsy DeVos has steadfastly refused to provide an example of misbehavior by a school or state that would prompt her to flex federal muscles to say, “Knock it off–now!” Not discrimination or abuse of students’ civil rights. But now, here, finally, we’ve got one. If DeVos thinks you’re interfering with someone’s exercise of religion, then she’s ready to extend that federal reach and lower that federal boom, apparently. So yesterday was kind of a milestone in that respect.