Freedom from Religion files suit against Montgomery Co. JP over courtroom prayers

Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Wayne Mack Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 Wayne Mack Image 1 of / 41 Caption Close Freedom from Religion files suit against Montgomery Co. JP over courtroom prayers 1 / 41 Back to Gallery

The Freedom from Religion Foundation and three anonymous parties have filed a federal lawsuit against a Montgomery County justice of the peace, saying he is violating the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state by holding a prayer meeting before court each day.

The three parties - a Christian lawyer, a lawyer who is not affiliated with any religion and an atheist who had appeared in court - say in the lawsuit that Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack locks the courtroom door when the prayer begins and then personally monitors who gets up to leave or knocks to re-enter.

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"Judge Mack has created the unambiguous impression that he, acting in his official capacity as Justice of the Peace for Montgomery County, endorses religion over non-religion and Christianity over all other faiths," the suit says.

The foundation is a Wisconsin-based nonprofit that advocates for the separation of church and state. The other parties filed the suit to protect their cases' outcomes before Mack, who majored in theology and has spoken publicly about including more religion in the public sector, the suit says.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued a formal opinion that Mack's courtroom prayer and chaplaincy program are not unconstitutional, and the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct dismissed a complaint against the justice in 2015.

Paxton issued a statement Wednesday supporting the justice.

"Judge Mack is fully complying with the Constitution by adhering to the model for opening prayers the Supreme Court endorsed just a few years ago," he said in the statement. "The Freedom from Religion Foundation's quest is to expunge any vestige of religion from public life flies in the face of the Supreme Court's holdings."

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According to court documents, Wayne is the only justice of the peace in Montgomery County who locks the courtroom door while on the bench. He hears minor misdemeanor cases and civil disputes.

At a 2014, Faith & Freedom Prayer Breakfast, which doubled as a fundraiser event, Mack was said on videotape pledging his commitment to impartiality, but noting that "there is no reason as an elected official that I have to be ashamed to declare to this crowd and anybody listening that as the Justice of the Peace I will bring the Prince of Peace to work with me every day," according to the lawsuit.

Mack declined to comment Wednesday, deferring to Hiram Sasser, an attorney with the First Liberty Institute, a Plano-based law firm that focuses on First Amendment and church-state issues, who has represented him previously before the judicial commission.

Sasser said these matters have been resolved by Paxton's opinion and the state judicial commission conclusion.

"Those arguments have been made before," he said. "They've just sort of fallen on deaf ears."

Mack started the chaplaincy program in 2014 and has asked religious leaders of various faiths - Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Mormon and Church of Christian Science - to give the invocation. An atheist asked to participate but did not show up for training, according to a statement from the First Liberty Institute.

Since the hearing before the judicial commission, Mack has added a sign outside the courtroom to clarify that people who do not want to participate in the pledges of allegiance or prayer do not have to leave the room, and that the justice now keeps his eyes closed and head down during the prayer, according to the statement.