Courtroom Prayer Case Poses Dilemma to Challengers on Appeal

Welcome back to Opening Argument, a reported column where I dig into interesting legal questions and controversies. Today: a look at courtroom prayer and Supreme Court precedent.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit last month said a Texas judge can lawfully open his court proceedings with a prayer.

It was a decision that seemed to stretch Supreme Court precedent in a way Justice Samuel Alito in 2014 said would be “far astray” from what the court intended in allowing town boards to start their meetings with a sectarian prayer.

That tension gives the Freedom From Religion Foundation, ...