Cert. Filed In City Council Sectarian Prayer Case

Last Monday, a Petition for Certiorari (full text) was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in Turner v. City Council of the City of Fredericksburg Virginia, (Docket No. 08-518). In the case, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (in a decision written by Sandra Day O'Connor sitting as a Circuit judge) upheld the city council's policy that requires prayers which open its sessions to be nondenominational. (See prior posting.) The cert. petition raises free exercise, Establishment Clause, free speech and overbreadth issues, including the question of whether prayer offered by an individual city council member is "government speech". [Thanks to Rob Luther for the lead.]