WESTMINSTER, Md. (AP) - The Carroll County Commissioners are reverting to a disputed prayer policy in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The five Republican commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to reverse their April decision limiting opening prayers at public meetings to nonsectarian invocations. Last month's resolution followed a federal court order barring the commissioners from opening their meetings with overtly Christian prayers.
In a ruling Monday, the Supreme Court approved of Christian opening prayers said by clergy at public meetings in the town of Greece, New York.
The high court decision prompted the federal judge in Baltimore to lift his restriction on the Carroll County prayers. But the plaintiffs in the underlying lawsuit say the Supreme Court ruling shouldn't apply to Carroll County, where the prayers are said by the commissioners themselves.
