DANVILLE, Va. (AP) — A judge says he won’t dissolve an injunction barring the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors from opening meetings with sectarian prayers.
An opinion filed Monday by U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski says a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling doesn’t support dissolving the injunction.
In May, the Supreme Court upheld the practice of reciting prayers at the start of the Greece Town Board’s meetings in Greece, New York. The Pittsylvania County board cited the ruling in its motion to dissolve or modify Urbanski’s injunction.
Urbanksi says the Pittsylvania County case is different. He says the board took an active role in leading the prayers and dictating their content.
He says he can’t modify the injunction while the board’s appeal of it is pending before the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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