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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Florida city's bid to fend off a lawsuit by atheists accusing officials of violating constitutional limits on government involvement in religion by staging a prayer vigil following gun violence that wounded three children. The justices turned away an appeal by the city of Ocala of a lower court's ruling endorsing the right of the plaintiffs,

A TV camera points to the U.S. Supreme Court as justices inside heard arguments in Gonzalez v. Google at the court in Washington, February 21, 2023 The decision clears the way for a federal judge to rule on whether a 2018 decision that found Ocala violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment in arranging the vigil should be tossed out. In an unrelated case last summer, the Supreme Court's

The Supreme Court declined to hear a Florida city’s appeal to a lawsuit filed by a group of atheists after the city’s police chief encouraged citizens to attend a community prayer vigil in the wake of a shooting spree. In 2014, the Ocala Chief of Police posted information for the prayer vigil on the department Facebook page, prompting atheists to attend and later file a lawsuit, claiming the

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Florida city's request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by atheists who say they were offended after the city held a prayer vigil following a local mass shooting. The City of Ocala had asked the Supreme Court to clarify whether "psychic or emotional offense allegedly caused by observation of religious messages" was sufficient to grant the atheists