Constitutionality of Congressional Chaplains in Question

December 3, 2002

Source: Religion News Service

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=1794

On December 3, 2002 Religion News Service reported that "twenty-two members of Congress have urged a federal court to dismiss a suit challenging the constitutionality of congressional chaplains. The American Center for Law and Justice filed a friend-of-the-court brief in U.S. District Court in Washington on behalf of itself and 22 members of Congress in response to a lawsuit filed in August by Michael Newdow, a California atheist. The brief, filed on Nov. 22, cites a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1983, in which the high court determined that the payment of chaplains using public funds did not establish a religion."