ATLANTA (WTXL) - Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and a coalition of 22 states filed a legal document urging the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the practice of lawmaker-led prayer at public meetings.
"The tradition of legislative prayer dates back to our country’s founding and is a time-honored practice in Georgia," said Attorney General Chris Carr.
He said the amicus brief, or friend-of-the-court brief, shows that lawmaker-led prayer, at both the state and local level, is a non-coercive expression of faith that is fully consistent with the Constitution.
The coalition filed the brief Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments in Lund v. Rowan County, a case involving a North Carolina county’s practice of opening its meetings with prayer offered by its commissioners.
The brief, filed in support of the North Carolina county, asks the court to confirm the constitutionality of that practice. Such a decision would establish clear national precedent permitting the longstanding practice of lawmaker-led prayer.
Georgia joined the brief along with Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, and the Governor of Kentucky.
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