Jewish organizations have welcomed a federal appellate court’s unanimous decision to bar a North Carolina judge from opening each day’s court session with a prayer.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond on Tuesday upheld a ruling by the federal district court in Charlotte, N.C., that by allowing such prayers, Judge William Constangy violated the First Amendment to the Constitution.
A lawsuit against the Greensboro trial judge was brought by several defense attorneys who objected to Constangy opening each day’s session with a non-sectarian prayer that he composed. Constangy argued that he was doing nothing different than the chaplains who open sessions of the U.S. Congress with a prayer each day.
The appeal court’s decision “is a welcome affirmation of first principles,” said Marc Stern, co-director of the American Jewish Congress Commission on Law and Social Action.
AJCongress filed friend-of-the court briefs in support of the suit in both the district and appeals courts.
“The Constitution not only separates church and state, but also imposes a special obligation on judges to administer justice without creating the appearance of religious partiality,” Stern said.
The decision was also welcomed by Steve Freeman, legal director of the Anti-Defamation League, which filed a separate brief against the judge when the case reached the appeals court.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
