New Orleans, USA - Attorneys for the Tangipahoa Parish School Board argued before a federal appeals court that prayers at school board meetings are constitutional unless they are intended to convert a person to a particular religion.
Attorneys for the other side, the American Civil Liberties Union, asserted that no type of prayer is permissible to open a school board meeting.
The arguments were presented during a hearing conducted by a three-judge panel of the Fifth U-S Circuit Court of Appeals on whether U-S District Judge Ginger Berrigan erred when she ruled that prayers at school board meetings are unconstitutional.
Attorneys for both sides said they have no idea when the court will reach a decision.
Berrigan's ruling is a result of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Tangipahoa School Board's practice of opening its meetings with prayer.
The lawsuit was filed by the A-C-L-U of Louisiana on behalf of an unnamed parent of children enrolled in a Tangipahoa Parish school.