Press Releases

Federal Court of Appeals Affirms Right to Public Prayer

9/8/2017

Jeff Landry, Other AG’s Assist in Religious Freedom Victory
BATON ROUGE, LA – Legislative prayers led by county commissioners
at public meetings do not violate the First
Amendment’s Establishment Clause, affirmed the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Louisiana
Attorney General Jeff Landry, who filed a brief in support of preserving this
aspect of religious freedom, praised the court’s ruling.
“This is a victory for religious freedom, and I applaud the court
for its decision,” said General Landry. “I am proud to have played a part in
this affirmation of religious liberty being a fundamental right of all Americans."
By a 9-6 vote on Bormuth v. Jackson County,
the Sixth Circuit ruled that county commissioners in Jackson, Michigan did not
violate the Establishment Clause by opening their public meetings with a prayer.“From the days when States had established religions, to the
period both before and after the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, to the
present day – lawmakers have led prayers at the state and local levels,”
explained General Landry. “And the governing Establishment Clause test
recognizes that prayer practices that have stood the test of time are
constitutionally permissible.”
General Landry joined an amicus brief in support
of Jackson County with Attorneys General from Michigan, Alabama, Arizona,
Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri,
Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. The court cited this brief several times and
called it helpful.
“As Louisiana’s chief legal officer – I will
continue to do all that I legally can to protect the First Amendment rights of
our State’s people, in private or in the public square,” concluded General
Landry. “I will keep defending the Constitutional right to exercise our beliefs
in schools, outside abortion clinics, or wherever the people of our State wish
to practice their religion.”
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