FFRF filed an amicus brief April 22 in a case over government-sponsored prayer in Eureka, Calif. In Beaton v. Eureka, city resident and atheist Carole Beaton filed suit over prayers that start city council meetings. FFRF's "friend of the court" brief supports Beaton's position that prayers at government meetings violate the Constitution.
FFRF argues that the California Constitution provides extensive protection of state/church separation, broader than that required by the Establishment Clause, and that the government should refuse to lend its "prestige and power" to religion by endorsing religious practices.
The brief also criticizes U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Marsh v. Chambers and Greece v. Galloway, which upheld legislative prayer. The cases reject legal principles in favor of relying on a misguided view of history, alleges FFRF, urging California courts to refuse to incorporate flawed reasoning into state law.