On The Front Lines
The Rutherford Institute Files U.S. Supreme Court Brief in Support of Citizen-Led Prayers at Burbank City Council Meetings
Brief Requests High Court Review of Ruling That Private Invocations Violate First AmendmentWASHINGTON--Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the city of Burbank, Calif., and the right of residents to lead sectarian prayers at City Council meetings. Institute attorneys argue that the California Court of Appeals made a grievous error in holding that religious invocations delivered by private individuals at Burbank's City Council meetings violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
The case began when Irv Rubin, the now-deceased chairman of the Jewish Defense League, protested a prayer given by a Mormon minister at the start of a City Council meeting in November 1999. The minister ended his invocation with, "We express our gratitude and our love in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." Through the years, the multi-denominational Burbank Ministerial Association has invited a host of religious leaders to issue a brief sectarian prayer at the start of a council meeting. The prayers have never been proffered by a government official or council member. However, in response to a suit filed against the city of Burbank by Irv Rubin and fellow Burbank citizen Roberto Alejandro Gandara alleging that the city had violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, a Los Angeles court judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, citing a 1983 Nebraska ruling that prevents the use of sectarian references. The California Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling in 2002. Although courts around the nation have acknowledged prayer as a means of opening meetings, in recent years judges have ruled to discourage references to specific deities. Institute attorneys argue that a single or occasional "sectarian" prayer offered by citizen volunteers at a public legislative meeting does not constitute the advancement of a particular religious ideology by that legislative body, i.e. the City Council. Furthermore, Institute attorneys suggest that by requiring the City Council to determine whether or not a prayer is sectarian and prohibit any that might be considered sectarian in nature, the courts would be forcing the Council to engage in viewpoint discrimination in violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.
"This case presents an opportunity for the Supreme Court to correct the growing misconception that the Establishment Clause is somehow less offended by non-sectarian prayer than by sectarian," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "It is our hope that the court will reiterate a vital constitutional truth--that private religious speech, even when it occurs in the public arena, is protected under the First Amendment to our Constitution."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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