Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"A federal judge found the way the Rowan County Commission prayed before public meetings unconstitutional. An appeals court eventually agreed and the Supreme Court last summer declined to hear the case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, federal court records show. Now the county will have to pay the ACLU’s legal bills for the five-year legal fight: $285,000."
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 18 days ago)
35,670 posts, read 18,040,478 times
Reputation: 50719
Greg Edds seems to indicate that the council knew, when fighting the ACLU, that they would have to pay court costs if they lost.
In that case, it seems fair. They knew the gamble, and they took it.
I'm really surprised they didn't seem to predict how this would end. It's kind of indefensible - not like a moment of silence, or like allowing students in a school to lead themselves in prayer during a meeting on campus, which should be allowed to happen and typically gets court approval.
They always know that the losing pays court costs. Though disappointed, they had to have been prepared to do so.
And in his dissent, Clarence Thomas was right about the decision being contrary to their precedents. A recent one happens to be local, in which the SCOTUS ruled in favor of prayers before board meetings at this county's largest town, Greece.
Even the Obama administration backed the town. Their prayers still are overwhelmingly Christian, as are the town's residents. Others have always been invited and, after the ruling, a few wiccans came forward--that soon petered out.
I don't know that much about the NC case, so I don't see the difference, but in our local case, the Court clearly acknowledged the history of prayer invocations--which still continue in the House and Senate. They also shied away from censoring prayers to make them secular, or outright prohibiting them.
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 18 days ago)
35,670 posts, read 18,040,478 times
Reputation: 50719
Quote:
Originally Posted by Delahanty
They always know that the losing pays court costs. Though disappointed, they had to have been prepared to do so.
And in his dissent, Clarence Thomas was right about the decision being contrary to their precedents. A recent one happens to be local, in which the SCOTUS ruled in favor of prayers before board meetings at this county's largest town, Greece.
Even the Obama administration backed the town. Their prayers still are overwhelmingly Christian, as are the town's residents. Others have always been invited and, after the ruling, a few wiccans came forward--that soon petered out.
I don't know that much about the NC case, so I don't see the difference, but in our local case, the Court clearly acknowledged the history of prayer invocations--which still continue in the House and Senate. They also shied away from censoring prayers to make them secular, or outright prohibiting them.
Although I responded that way in the previous post, that doesn't always happen. It seems they knew that was stipulated in this specific court case, that the loser would pay the winner's court cost.
It's not ALWAYS stipulated, or otherwise, all these junk lawsuits wouldn't rise up. If the loser ALWAYS had to pay the winner's court costs, you wouldn't see a single frivilous lawsuit ever.
The council could just say the prayer is not a life or death issue, and if somebody respectfully objects to it, just let it go.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
