United States Seventh Circuit

In a taxpayer challenge to the Indiana House of Representatives' practice of opening each session with a prayer, the district court's permanent injunction forbidding the practice is reversed and remanded with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction where, in light of the Supreme Court's holding in Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc., 127 S. Ct. 2553 (2007), the plaintiffs lacked standing since they only alleged an expenditure of government funds in violation of the Establishment Clause rather than an explicit legislative approval of the practice.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/30/2007
• Published 10/30/2007

Judges

• RIPPLE, Circuit Judge., Before RIPPLE, KANNE and WOOD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Mathew D. Staver, Anita L. Staver, Liberty Counsel, Maitland, FL, Eric W. Stanley, Rena M. Lindevaldsen, Lynchburg, VA, Amicus Curiae., Gregory M. Jones, Foundation for Moral Law, Inc., Montgomery, AL, Amicus Curiae., Michael D. Dean, Dean & McKoy, Waukesha, WI, Amicus Curiae., Anthony R. Picarello, Jr., Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Washington, DC, Amicus Curiae., James Bopp, Jr., Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom, Terre Haute, IN, Amicus Curiae., Aaron Van Oort Faegre & Benson, Minneapolis, MN, Amicus Curiae., Lowell Sturgill (argued), Dept. of Justice, Civil Rights Div., Appellate Sec., Washington, DC, Amicus Curiae., Steven W. Fitschen, Nat. Legal Foundation, Virginia Beach, VA, Amicus Curiae., Barbara J. Weller, Gibbs Law Firm, Seminole, FL, Amicus Curiae., Jonathan K. Baum, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Chicago, IL, Amicus Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Kenneth J. Falk (argued), Indiana Civil Liberties Union, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiffs-Appellees., Steffen N. Johnson (argued), Winston & Strawn, Washington, DC, Thomas M. Fisher, Office of the Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, for Defendant-Appellant.