I’ll let the legal types dig into the exact ruling but in a case brought by Janet Joyner and Constance Lynn Blackmon the courts have ruled the County Board of Commissioners is violating the law in holding invocation or prayer prior to County meetings. Of course it looks like the county gets to pay the legal fees associated with this as well.

 

Relief
Plaintiffs seek relief in the form of a declaratory judgment, an injunction prohibiting Defendant from allowing sectarian prayers at its Board meetings, nominal damages, and the payment of reasonable expenses and attorney’s fees.  (Id. at 15.)  This Court should declare that the effect of Defendant’s policy is to violate the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution and allow the recovery of nominal damages and attorney’s fees as part
of the costs under 42 U.S.C. § 1988.  The Court should enjoin the continuation of the Policy as it is now implemented.

Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, IT IS RECOMMENDED that Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 63) be granted.

I have to bite my fingers not to get political on this blog but this is one time the politics relate to your tax dollars. The county has asked a Federal Judge to dismiss a case brought by Janet Joyner and Constance Lynn Blackmon against the county for sponsoring sectarian prayer at County Board meetings.

The reason I couldn’t bite my fingers this time is due to the absolutely brilliant quotes by the attorney representing the County, Mike Johnson.

"The First Amendment does not provide any of us with a right to not be offended," said Mike Johnson, the lead Alliance Defense Fund attorney for the county. "There are a lot of things that are said in the public square that I may not agree with but I don’t have the right to silence."  link: journalnow.com

I’m not going to take sides in the debate by posting my own position on this however I had to post what must be considered one of the few times a lawyer actually says something in plain English and hit the nail on the head.