S5, Ep. 03: SCOTUS is fixated on history. What’s prayer got to do with it?

Respecting Religion

Has the Supreme Court abandoned the Establishment Clause test for some sort of “history” test when applying the law? Today, we’re looking at a 2014 Supreme Court case that continues to have major implications on Supreme Court decisions: Greece v. Galloway. Amanda and Holly review this sharply divided decision on legislative prayer, explore the differences in the prayer practice of Congress and the practice in local town meetings, and look at the ongoing impact of this decision, including how it was used in the Kennedy v. Bremerton ruling in 2022.

SHOW NOTES Segment 1 (starting at 00:51): What’s the difference between legislative prayer and prayer at local town meetings?

Amanda and Holly discuss the decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton on episode 21 of season 3.

Learn more about Greece v. Galloway on our page dedicated to the case, available at this link. It includes a link to our friend-of-the-court brief and other resources.

BJC’s Nan Futrell Liles wrote about the constitutional anomaly in the 1983 case of Marsh v. Chambers in this column from 2013: A legal look at local government prayer

Segment 2 (starting at 20:56): The decision and the dissent in Greece v. Galloway

Read Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision in Greece v. Galloway and Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent at this link.

Segment 3 (starting at 30:41): The problems with this new ‘history’ test

Read the Kennedy v. Bremerton opinion and dissent at this link.

Amanda and Holly mentioned two recent disputes about prayer in local government meetings. Here are news articles covering them:

• Alabama: Anti-LGBTQ comments in Mobile raise questions about prayer before public meetings by John Sharp for AL.com
• Connecticut: Enfield school board meetings no longer begin with prayer following complaint by Susan Danseyar and Eric Bedner for CT Insider.

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