Courtroom prayers draw federal lawsuit against Montgomery Co. Texas JP

The nonprofit foundation is joined in filing the suit by three people - a Christian lawyer, a lawyer who is not affiliated with a religion and an atheist who is not a lawyer but appeared before the judge – who say they felt pressured to participate in the morning prayer before Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack.

The suit says Mack locks the courtroom door for an invocation, monitors the body language of people who stay, and notices who leaves court before the prayer or knocks to re-enter after it. No other JPs hold prayer sessions or lock their courtrooms during business hours, according to the suit....

The courtroom participants who sued in federal court offer a different take on the facts. They say the judge, in his official capacity, has given an "unambiguous impression" that he endorses "religion over non-religion and Christianity over all other faiths."
"Judge Mack hypocritically touts the idea of religious freedom while simultaneously impinging on the religious freedom of those in his courtroom," said Sam Grover, lead attorney for the plaintiffs at Freedom from Religion, a Wisconsin nonprofit founded in the 1970s that advocates for the separation of church and state.

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