Town of Greece v. Galloway (572 U.S. 565)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 5, 2014 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 572 U.S. 565 · 134 S. Ct. 1811
- Docket
- No. 12-696
- Argued
- November 6, 2013
- Decided
- May 5, 2014
- Term
- October Term 2013
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Scalia (joined a concurrence), Justice Kennedy (wrote), Justice Alito (wrote a concurrence)
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice Thomas (wrote)
- Dissenting
- Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer, Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan (wrote)
Oral argument transcript and advocates · Opinion on Justia
Opinion excerpt
Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part II-B. The Court must decide whether the town of Greece, New York, imposes an impermissible establishment of religion by opening its monthly board meetings with a prayer. It must be concluded, consistent with the Court's opinion in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783, 103 S.Ct. 3330, 77 L.Ed.2d 1019 (1983), that no violation of the Constitution has been shown. I Greece, a town with a population of 94,000, is in upstate New York. For some years, it began its monthly town board meetings with a moment of silence. In 1999, the newly elected town supervisor, John Auberger, decided to replicate the prayer practice he had found meaningful while serving in the county legislature. Following the roll call and recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, Auberger would invite a local clergyman to the front of the room to deliver an invocation. After the prayer, Auberger would thank the minister for serving as the board's "chaplain for the month" and present him with a commemorative plaque. The prayer was intended to place town board members in a solemn and deliberative frame of mind, invoke divine guidance in town affairs, and follow a tradition practiced by Congress and dozens of state legislatures. App. 22a-25a. The town followed an informal method for selecting prayer givers, all of whom were unpaid volunteers. A town…
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