A five-year court battle to remove sectarian prayers from public board of commissioners meetings.

A five-year court battle to remove sectarian prayers from public board of commissioners meetings in Forsyth County, North Carolina, finally came to an end January 17 when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District, which found that the board of commissioners had violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The lawsuit Joyner v. Forsyth County was originally filed in 2007 on behalf of two women who objected to the sectarian invocations routinely delivered by clergy at board meetings. Each of the lower courts had ruled the prayers unconstitutional.

Karen Ann Gajewski is a contributing editor to the Humanists and a documentation project coordinator.