2/1/2024 0 Comments Freedome from religionGalloway 19 controlled, Senior District Judge Hoyt distinguished these cases because both concerned prayer in a legislative, rather than judicial, setting. 17 While the defendant argued that Marsh v. 15 The District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted the plaintiffs’ motion and denied the defendant’s, 16 finding that the opening ceremonies violate the Establishment Clause. 14īoth parties filed motions for summary judgment. 13 On May 29, 2019, Roe and the non-profit organization Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed suit against Judge Mack in his individual and official capacities, alleging that Judge Mack’s opening ceremonies violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. 12 Consequently, in July 2017, feeling that his refusal to participate would prejudice his clients, Roe stopped representing clients whose cases had been assigned to Judge Mack. 11īetween August 2015 and July 2017, attorney John Roe appeared before Judge Mack on ten occasions, and each time “a Christian chaplain delivered a Christian prayer” during the opening ceremonies. 9 In these ceremonies, chaplains offer prayers or “encouraging words.” 10 Those with business before the court are not required to stay in the room and are told that their involvement will not be considered by the court in its decisionmaking. 8 As a corollary to the program, Judge Mack regularly invites the volunteer chaplains to participate in “opening ceremonies” in his courtroom before the first case is called. In 2014, Judge Mack, a justice of the peace in Montgomery County, Texas, created a chaplaincy program to assist him in his duties as county coroner. 7 Regardless of the court’s analysis on the merits of the Establishment Clause claim, the Fifth Circuit’s determination that Judge Mack could not be sued in this way ignored the statute’s text, history, and surrounding jurisprudence. 6 In its reasoning, the court concluded that Judge Mack could not be sued in his official capacity for prospective relief under 42 U.S.C. Mack, 5 the Fifth Circuit issued a stay pending appeal to allow a justice of the peace, Judge Mack, to continue opening court sessions with prayer. 3 As articulated by the Supreme Court: “The purpose of § 1983 is to deter state actors from using the badge of their authority to deprive individuals of their federally guaranteed rights and to provide relief to victims if such deterrence fails.” 4 Recently, in Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc. § 1983, which provides a cause of action against any person who deprives another of their constitutional rights under color of law. 2 One of those statutes was the Civil Rights Act of 1871, now codified at 42 U.S.C. In response to a post–Civil War South where “judges, having ears to hear, hear not,” 1 Congress enacted several statutes to force state officials to comply with the new Fourteenth Amendment.
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