ACLJ Preparing Brief for Supreme Court

We worked late into the evening last night and early this morning preparing our brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in the Inaugural Prayer case.  Dr. Michael Newdow will be filing his petition this morning with the Supreme Court, asking them to stay any Inaugural Prayer activities that would take place.  We have filed our brief relying on the historical argument that prayer has been included in every Inaugural since President Washington.  We have also utilized the language from Justice OConnors concurring opinion in the Pledge of Allegiance case.  Dr. Newdow was the plaintiff in that case where Justice OConnor stated that, It would be ironic indeed if a nation founded by religious refugees would sever the ties that bind it to that history even today.  I encourage you to take a look at the brief online at www.aclj.org.  This is a critically important phase of the case. 

Under Supreme Court rules, one Justice could issue a stay or it could be referred to the entire nine Justices.  If one Justice decides to render an opinion in the case, Michael Newdow will then have another opportunity to seek out one additional Justice to try to get the stay.  I anticipate that a quick referral to the entire nine Justices will be made and that a quick response will come from the Court either late this afternoon or first thing in the morning.  We will keep you posted during the day as this situation continues to develop.

At the same time, Senior Counsel Frank Manion is at U.S. District Court in Baltimore defending the city of Frederick, Maryland, and their display of a Ten Commandments monument on city grounds.  There are two cases at the Supreme Court right now involving the Ten Commandments, but it is still important to continue to litigate these cases in the lower courts as we await the Supreme Courts decision.  More information will be posted online as well as this case continues to develop.