Indianapolis, USA - A federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to temporarily lift a ban on prayers in the Indiana House of Representatives that mention Jesus Christ or endorse any particular religion.
A three-member panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by House Speaker Brian Bosma to set aside a judge's order until an appeal could be further litigated.
The appeals court said the case involved internal proceedings of a legislative body and raised important federalism concerns and deserved additional review.
But the 2-1 ruling said Bosma had not met a legal burden to put a November order by U.S. District Judge David Hamilton on hold until the appeal could be heard. Bosma has until April 10 to file a full appeals brief.
"Of course we're disappointed that the 7th Circuit did not grant our request for stay, but we aren't shocked by it," said Bosma, R-Indianapolis. "I still firmly believe our ultimate relief will be at the United States Supreme Court level."
House members have been complying with Hamilton's order by meeting for informal prayers in the back of their chamber before official business begins. The Senate was not named in the lawsuit that led to the ruling, but senators also changed the way they begin their meetings by having a moment of silent reflection instead of an invocation.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed the lawsuit in June on behalf of four people, including a Quaker lobbyist, who said they found the tradition of offering the usually Christian prayers offensive.
Ken Falk, the ACLU of Indiana's legal director, said he was pleased with the ruling but noted that the appeals process was not over.
"There is a long way to go," he said.
The federal appeals court said Bosma advanced several arguments that deserved "our respectful attention."
"He suggests that prohibiting clerics from invoking Christ would violate the free exercise or free speech clauses of the First Amendment," the ruling said. "These issues, while new to this circuit's jurisprudence, have been addressed by other courts and have been rejected."
The court also noted Bosma's argument that, absent a stay, the Indiana House's long tradition of offering invocations would be broken because no prayer at all could continue.
The judges said the injunction permits prayer as long as it is nondenominational and pointed out that the House's current practice is to ask clergy to "strive for an ecumenical prayer."
"It is simply the toleration of the failure to follow this practice that has produced this litigation and required action of the federal court."
Judge Michael Kanne wrote that he would have granted a stay. He said the only time the Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of legislative prayer, it approved the practice.
He said case law supports the proposition that the Supreme Court ruling approved only nonsectarian prayer but that "powerful arguments to the contrary" remain.
Bosma said it was an important case not only for Indiana but the rest of the nation.
"We will continue to work for free speech in the government process," he said.