Written by Meaghan M. McDermott
The U.S. Court of Appeals will hear arguments on Monday in a case filed by Greece residents objecting to sectarian prayers at Greece Town Board meetings.
Represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Greece residents Linda Stephens and Susan Galloway sued the town and Town Supervisor John Auberger in 2009 over a long-standing policy of opening Town Board meetings with a prayer.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian organization, has represented the town pro bono.
U.S. District Court Judge Charles Siragusa ruled in favor of the town and dismissed the suit in August 2010.
“The town did not begin having prayer at meetings in order to proselytize or advance any one, or disparage any other, faith or belief,” Siragusa wrote in his ruling. “…The town’s prayer policy, to the extent that one exists, is to invite clergy from all denominations within the Town without any guidance or restriction on the content of prayers.”
Siragusa noted a long history of constitutionally permissible legislative prayer in Congress, and said many of those prayers are indistinguishable from those offered in Greece.
Americans United appealed Siragusa’s ruling.
Oral arguments in the case are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. before the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
MCDERMOT
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