In a case that could have profound impact on religious freedom for dozens of states, Texas yesterday joined a Michigan-led 22-state coalition filing an amicus brief urging the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a district court’s decision on the constitutionality of legislative prayer.
The case is centered on a tradition in Jackson County, Michigan, where monthly board meetings begin with a prayer from a county commissioner. In 2013, a self-proclaimed pagan objected to the tradition and filed suit. A district court rejected the constitutional challenge, but a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit ruled 2-1 in February that the prayers by various commissioners during meetings violated the First Amendment. Last month, the full 6th Circuit asked to rehear the case.
In the friend-of-the-court brief, Attorney General Ken Paxton and his counterparts provide historical and current evidence to show that the practice of legislative prayer includes lawmaker-led prayer.
“Not only has legislative prayer persisted across the country for more than a century, the practice of legislative prayer has persistently included lawmakers themselves exercising their own religious liberty by opening legislative meetings in prayer,” the attorneys general wrote. They noted that lawmakers lead prayer in one or both legislative chambers in 35 states, including Texas.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared in 2014 that prayer before governmental meetings is legal, as long as it does not discriminate among religions or coerce members to take part.