Justices to review prayer at government meetings

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether prayers can be offered at government meetings—a practice that’s been common in Congress and throughout the states for more than two centuries.

The religious expression case, which comes to the Court from the town of Greece, New York, focuses on the first ten words of the First Amendment, ratified in 1791: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

The Establishment Clause was violated, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year, when the Greece town board repeatedly used Christian clergy to conduct prayers at the start of its public meetings. The decision created a rift with other appeals courts that have upheld prayer at public meetings, prompting the justices to announce May 20 that they will take the case.