(PartiallyPolitics.com) – On Monday, the Supreme Court decided that they would not consider a dispute which would make challenging what people consider the unconstitutional government endorsement of religion more easily possible.
The dispute was the result of a vigil held by police officers in Florida who proceeded to have Christian prayers following a local shooting spree. Conservative justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas both wrote opinions claiming that the court must take more similar cases up in the future. The appeal which was brought forth by the city of Ocala was rejected. It initially aimed to have a lawsuit dismissed after stating that the events that took place were in violation of the Establishment Clause, a provision of the Constitution’s First Amendment which prohibits the government from endorsing any single religion.
Following the Supreme Court’s rejection the case was returned to the lower courts.
In his dissenting opinion, Thomas expressed “serious doubts” over the lower court’s handling of the issue. He further noted that the court’s intervention is becoming more common as these types of cases do not appear to be going away.
Gorsuch in his own opinion wrote that he was not against the initial court’s decision of sending the Florida case away, but mentioned that in principle he agreed with the city’s lawyers. He added that the Court has never supported the idea that “an ‘offended observer’ may bring an Establishment Clause claim.”
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