The Supreme Court has declined to hear a Florida city’s bid to fend off a lawsuit by atheists accusing officials of violating constitutional limits on government involvement in religion. (Will Dunham, Reuters) Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Florida city’s bid to fend off a lawsuit by atheists accusing officials of violating constitutional limits on government involvement in religion by staging a prayer vigil following gun violence that wounded three children. The justices turned away an appeal by the city of Ocala of a lower court’s ruling endorsing the right of the plaintiffs, backed by the American Humanist Association, to sue over legal harms they said they sustained attending the 2014 vigil in which uniformed police chaplains preached a Judeo-Christian message. The plaintiffs accused Ocala of violating the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment "establishment clause," which restricts governmental involvement in religion. Ocala had urged the justices to reject the claim that the plaintiffs, as "offended observers" of religious messages, had sustained legally recognizable injuries. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting from the decision to reject the appeal, expressed "serious doubts" about the legitimacy of lawsuits by offended observers. "Offended observer […]
