4th Circuit hears oral arguments in public prayer case
The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing arguments Wednesday in a case involving prayers led by elected officials at public meetings.
It’s the first time a federal appeals court has considered a public prayer case since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down Town of Greece v. Galloway, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. In that decision, the Supreme Court said prayers drawn from a specific religion, performed at a government meeting, aren’t necessarily unconstitutionally coercive.
Town of Greece involved prayers led by a rotating series of local clergy or laypeople. In Lund v. Rowan County, however, the prayers were led by Rowan County commissioners themselves. The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU, alleged that they felt coerced to stand and participate along with the board and most of the audience. They also alleged that the expressly Christian content of the prayers sent the message that the board favored Christianity.
The board responded that they were following a longstanding tradition, not a policy, and that citizens were welcome to leave the room or arrive late.
In 2013, a federal court in North Carolina found that the practice was unconstitutionally coercive and issued a preliminary injunction. It made that injunction permanent in 2014, noting that the case was distinct from Town of Greece because the commissioners were the sole prayer-writers and prayer-givers.
Recently, the county commission has had an invited chaplain deliver its prayers.
A press release from the Alliance Defending Freedom says Rowan County is represented by that organization as well as two other conservative legal nonprofits—the National Center for Life and Liberty and the Liberty Institute—and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius partner Allyson Ho.
National Center for Life and Liberty attorney Barbara Weller told the Associated Press that Rowan County’s prayers have never been coercive. “People can leave the room if they don’t want to hear the prayer,” Weller said.
Any ruling handed down by the 4th Circuit would affect public prayers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Erwin Chemerinsky wrote in an ABA Journal column in 2014 that Town of Greece would likely make it harder to challenge public prayers on First Amendment grounds.
