O'Connor On 8th Circuit Panel Hearing Challenge To Faith-Based Prison Program

According to the Associated Press, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will be one of the three judges on a panel of the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals next week that will hear the appeal in Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. Prison Fellowship Ministries, a case in which an Iowa district court held that InnerChange, a state-financed faith-based prison rehabilitation program, violates the Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.) The district court opinion being appealed mentioned Justice O'Connor four times in its 140 pages as it referred to church-state decisions that she authored.