Reuters: U.S.: High court agrees to hear town meeting prayer case

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High court agrees to hear town meeting prayer case May 20th 2013, 13:51 By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON | Mon May 20, 2013 9:51am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether a town in New York endorsed religion by allowing members of the public to open meetings with a prayer. Two residents sued Greece, New York, in 2008, saying it was endorsing Christianity, a violation of the Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of separation of church and state. Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens said the vast majority of prayer-givers since the practice started in 1999 were Christian clergy. Attendees would often be asked to join in or bow their heads. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York revived the case by ruling against the town after a district court threw out the lawsuit. Although the town did in theory allow anyone to volunteer, it "neither publicly solicited volunteers to invocation nor informed members of the general public that volunteers would be considered or accepted," the appeals court said. The town also failed to make it clear the prayer was intended to signify the solemnity of the proceedings, which the Supreme Court has said is not unconstitutional, rather than "to affiliate the town with any particular creed," it said. Lawyers for the town say the Supreme Court has long allowed legislative sessions to begin with a prayer. They also note that the town has never regulated the content of prayers and did not discriminate in selecting prayer-givers. A total of 18 states and 49 members of the U.S. House of Representatives joined briefs asking the court to take the case. Oral arguments and a decision are expected in the court's next term, which begins in October and ends in June 2014. The case is Town of Greece v. Galloway, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-696. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Doina Chiacu) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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