United States Supreme Court
Town of Greece v. Galloway, 12-696
Defendant-town's practice of beginning the monthly town board meetings with a prayer given by clergy selected from the congregations listed in a local directory does not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, where: 1) legislative prayer is not required to be nonsectarian; 2) absent a pattern of prayers that over time denigrate, proselytize, or betray an impermissible government purpose, a challenge based solely on the content of a particular prayer will not likely establish a constitutional violation; and 3) so long as the town maintains a policy of nondiscrimination, the Constitution does not require it to search beyond its borders for non-Christian prayer givers in an effort to achieve religious balancing.
Appellate Information
- Decided 05/05/2014
- Published 05/05/2014
Judges
- KENNEDY
Court
- United States Supreme Court