Establishment Clause
The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed that the Chino Unified School District Board of Education violated the Establishment Clause by opening its meeting with prayer, as the Freedom From Religion Foundation claimed.
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NJ Town Hauled Into Court by Ramapough Nation
A Native American tribe brought a federal complaint Monday that accuses a New Jersey town and homeowner’s association of levying illegal fines and trying to intimidate them into stopping open-air prayers on ceremonial grounds.
Read moreSatan in Arizona
The Satanic Temple and a member brought a federal complaint against Scottsdale, Arizona, for refusing to allow them to give an invocation at a City Council meeting after prior approval.
Read moreSchool Board’s Prayer Time Debated at 9th Circuit
Public school boards should be allowed to open their meetings with an invocation just like other legislative bodies do, an attorney for a Southern California school district told a Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday.
Read moreJudge Says Congress May Bar Atheist From Giving Invocation
WASHINGTON (CN) – Congress has the right to hold a prayer at the start of each legislative day, and can
Read moreFlorida County Can’t Ban Atheists From Giving Invocations
A Florida county’s practice of banning non-theists from giving the invocation before public meetings is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Saturday.
Read moreSplit En Banc Sixth Circuit OKs Government-Led Prayer
A divided full Sixth Circuit on Wednesday upheld a Michigan county’s practice of opening its board meetings with a commissioner-led prayer as constitutional, finding the prayers fall inside the scope of historically accepted traditions and are not coercive.
Read moreFourth Circuit Rules County’s Pre-Meeting Prayers Were Unconstitutional
An en banc Fourth Circuit on Friday ruled that commissioners in Rowan County, North Carolina, violated the constitution by opening public meetings with participation in prayers that are specific to one religion.
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Ex-Gitmo Detainee’s Religious-Freedom Case Advances
Ahmed Ghailani, the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried in civilian court, won a ruling Wednesday in his fight to participate in weekly Islamic prayer at the Colorado supermax where he will spend the rest of his life.
Read moreEn Banc Sixth Circuit to Rule on Government-Led Prayer
The entire Sixth Circuit heard debate Wednesday over the constitutionality of a Michigan county’s practice of opening board meetings with a commissioner-led prayer, after the court vacated a three-judge panel’s ruling against the prayer and agreed to decide the case en banc.
Read moreFourth Circuit Considers Whether County Board Prayer Is Coercion
When does tradition become coercion? That was the question the Fourth Circuit was asked to consider Wednesday as it grappled with a controversy over a prayer recited before a county commission meeting.
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Attorneys Challenge Texas Judge’s Courtroom Prayers
A Texas judge who opens his court with a prayer each day puts fear into lawyers who believe that if they object it could spell trouble for their clients, two attorneys claim in a constitutional lawsuit.
Read moreTexas AG Warns School About Muslim Prayer Room
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warned a suburban Dallas school district Friday that its prayer room for Muslim students may violate other students’ religious liberty.
Read moreGovernment-Led Prayer Gets En Banc Hearing
The constitutionality of government-led prayer will be determined by the entire Sixth Circuit in an en banc hearing, following a poll of its judges without a request from the parties involved.
Read moreSplit Sixth Circuit Bars Officials’ Demand for Prayers
In a 2-1 ruling with a vigorous dissent, the Sixth Circuit on Wednesday found that prayers uttered by county commissioners to open monthly board meetings “are literally ‘government speech’” and violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.
Read moreReverend Says Inaugural Committee Blocked Her DC Prayer Breakfast
The committee overseeing next week’s presidential inauguration forced the Trump International Hotel to cancel a contract with a reverend who planned to host an annual prayer breakfast at the hotel the morning Donald Trump is sworn in as president, the reverend claims in court.
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