In Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Mack, (SD TX, May 21, 2021), a Texas federal district court held that a program devised by a Justice of the Peace under which his court sessions are opened with a prayer from a volunteer chaplain violates the Establishment Clause. The court concluded that attendees are impermissibly coerced into participating in religious ritual. It said in part:
The structure of the ceremony, combined with the defendant’s attendant statements about the ceremony’s purpose, is designed to give attendees “a sense of being in the presence of something . . . holy and sacred[.]” ... The Court is of the view that the defendant violates the Establishment Clause when, before a captured audience of litigants and their counsel, he presents himself as theopneustically-inspired, enabling him to advance, through the Chaplaincy Program, God’s “larger purpose.” Such a magnanimous goal flies in the face of historical tradition, and makes a mockery of both, religion and law.
FFRF issued a press release announcing the decision. First Liberty Institute which represents defendant says that it will appeal the decision to the 5th Circuit.
