PRAYER PERMITTED AT MUNICIPAL MEETINGS
June 27, 2014
The United States Supreme Court has upheld the right of a local government to open a Town Council Meeting with a prayer. In Town of Greece, New York v. Galloway, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the prayer did not violate the establishment clause.
This May 5, 2014 ruling allowed a small New York Municipality to continue the practice of allowing a local clergyman to offer a prayer before the start of each meeting. Local residents had filed a lawsuit challenging the Town Council's practice of holding prayers at the beginning of each meeting insisting that such a prayer violated their first amendment rights. The Federal Court at the District Court level had agreed with the citizens and had ruled that the prayer did violate the rights of the citizens. The United States Supreme Court reversed that decision and held that the Citizens' First Amendment Rights had not been violated. The court noted that a prayer before a public meeting is often times a civic tradition in the United States. Justice Anthony Kennedy stated that the prayers did not coerce the non-believers. Those non-believers had the right to leave the room and they were not ordered to pray, nor were they criticized for any dissension when the prayers were offered. Justice Kennedy stated that the prayers are ceremonial and in keeping with the traditions of our nation. The court concluded "As a practice that has long endured, legislative prayer has become part of our heritage and tradition, part of our expressive idiom, similar to the Pledge of Allegiance, inaugural prayer, or the recitation of 'God save the United States and this Honorable Court' at the opening of this Court's sessions."This decision puts to rest an uncertain area of law which had been debated by lawyers who, like us, advise municipalities.
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