Prayer to continue in Montgomery County courtroom for now [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, Health Law360, which is clickbait. They put me on their mailing list, but I can't read their articles without subscribing.

Prayer to continue in Montgomery County courtroom for now

Jose R. Gonzalez, Staff writer
July 12, 2021
Updated: July 13, 2021 2:47 a.m.



Judge Wayne Mack, Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace, presides on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, at the Montgomery County West Annex. Prayers invoked in Mack’s court may proceed, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Michael Minasi, Staff Photographer / Houston Chronicle

Prayers invoked in Montgomery County Judge Wayne Mack’s court may proceed, a federal appeals court has ruled. ... The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on Friday permitting a chaplain to pray at the start of Mack’s misdemeanors and small claims court in Willis as a final decision on the case remains pending.

The ruling comes after U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt’s May 21 decision found the practice violated the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits the establishment of religion.

“The judge has made a strong showing that the district court erred,” Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham wrote in the ruling, pointing to the program being voluntary, interfaith, brief and optional.

A Wisconsin-based nonprofit advocating the separation of church and state brought a couple of lawsuits against Mack, asserting he solicits prayer participation from his courtroom’s attendees. ... A previous suit was dismissed because it named the state, which is not the county judge’s employer, as a plaintiff.

{snip}

Serving as Mack’s defense counsel is the Plano-based nonprofit First Liberty Institute, which describes itself on its website as “dedicated exclusively to protecting religious liberty for all Americans.” ... The suit’s plaintiff is the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).

{snip}

[e-mail]

https://twitter.com/jrgzztx

Written By
Jose R. Gonzalez

Jose R. Gonzalez reports on crime, courts and public safety in Montgomery County, just north of Houston. He has written exclusively on a range of topics, including the arrest and death of a cold case murder suspect, jury trials resulting in life sentences, an inmate's murals at the county jail and COVID-19 concerns among others being confined there. Jose joined the metro desk at the Houston Chronicle at the end of 2017. He worked breaking news and general assignments before landing on the Chronicle's business desk.
He covered the U.S. Congress at two editorial internships in Washington, D.C., one of which was RealClearPolitics. In between, he freelanced for the Chronicle. He is a journalism graduate of Texas State University in San Marcos.
Born in Pasadena, Texas and mostly raised there, Jose as a kid moved a lot with his family. He has lived in all four contiguous time zones.