Today, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in favor of Rowan County, North Carolina county commissioners in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenging their constitutional right to open their meetings with prayer.

This ruling by the appeals court reversed an earlier decision by North Carolina’s U.S. Middle District Court that claimed Rowan County’s commissioners’ prayers at the beginning of each meeting were unconstitutional. In May, U.S. District Judge James Beaty held that the Rowan commissioners violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which bans government endorsement of a single religion. Between 2007 and 2013, the commissioners who delivered prayers were all Christians. However, the appeals court found it insignificant that only Christian prayers were provided before meetings.

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