Ruthann Robson of CUNY has, on the con law listserv, offered a post linking to
the issuance of a judgment by the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of
Mouvement laique quebcois v. Saguenay (City). [I apologize for not properly
accenting it; I am reminded of page 104 of Rick Atkinson's
The actual text of the prayer, which is set out in paragraph 12 of the
courts opinion, is actually quite nonsectarian, addressed to Almighty God
and focused on soliciting guidance for the council. I think the right rule
is no prayers at government meetings with assembled citizens, but no one
Interesting that the Canadian Court was so dismissive of the preamble. As I
recall in Australia, the reason the Australian Constitution has a free exercise
clause and establishment clause although it does not have a Bill of Rights is
that people were sufficiently worried about the reference to
