A History of the Virginia Military Institute Prayer Case

Links:

Press Release APRIL 26, 2004

Transcript of the VMI supper prayers

Table of Contents, Fourth Circuit  Court Brief

PDF file of Fourth Circuit Court brief

Table of Contents, CAV-NAF Brief in support of petition for Writ of Certiorari to the supreme Court

PDF File of First Principles Brief

Supreme Court's VMI Prayer Decision Allows VMI to Reinstate Prayer at Mealtime

May, 2001: The ACLU objected on behalf of two Virginia Military Institute Cadets to cadet-led unit prayer before evening meals. The VMI Corps of Cadets is a military organization of the Virginia Militia under Virginia Law.

U. S. District Court, January, 2002: A U.S. District Judge struck down unit led prayer as "religious indoctrination."

Appeal to 4^th Circuit Court in Richmond, April, 2003: A 3-judge panel in the Fourth Circuit Court upheld the district court decision.

An unthinkable precedent was set by the extreme positions of the ACLU, the American Jewish Committee, Citizens United for Separation of Church and State and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, claiming meal time prayers represent "religious fanaticism and ideological proselytizing [that] are engendering animosity and destruction worldwide." Read the actual prayers used at VMI below.

The Amicus Brief filed with the Fourth Circuit includes an extensive historic appendix of military prayers and presidential speeches (including the acknowledgment of God in every President’s inaugural address) and events in which unit prayer was decisive at pivotal points of peril in American history. Prayers of military uniformed and civilian leadership are included from excerpts from 67 Prayer Books, published by the Government Printing Office and private groups, and distributed to our military from 1775 to the present.

August, 2003: The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request for rehearing en banc 6 to 6. (A hearing with the entire 12 judge panel) Three of the dissenting judges filed an opinion, an unusual move when petition for rehearing is denied.

One dissenting judge said the ruling "places religious prayer in a more restrictive category than dirty books." (No. 02-1216, p. 36, 4^th Circuit, Aug. 13, 2003)

The Naval Aviation Foundation, the Coalition of American Veterans, and First Principles Press with American Family Association have filed Friend of the Court Briefs to support the Virginia Military Institute’s appeal to the supreme Court for a hearing based on History and Military Necessity.

The links on the left include a summary of the Lower Court Brief, the table of contents for each Brief, and a full text of each Amicus Brief.