The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in the case of a New York town that opens its monthly public meetings with a Christian prayer.
A Jewish woman and an atheist woman are arguing together that the practice, introduced in 1999, represents a government endorsement of a particular religion.
But the town and its supporters—which includes 119 members of Congress and the Obama administration—say the prayer is voluntary and reflective of an American tradition.
The Court last considered legislative prayer in 1983, when it ruled that a Presbyterian minister who was paid to act as the official chaplain of the Nebraska legislature was allowed to open sessions with a prayer.
[NBC News]