Scott Gaylord presents on sectarian legislative prayer and judicial selection

Gaylord spoke at the University of Mississippi School of Law and Regent University School of Law on sectarian legislative prayer. In particular, he discussed a petition filed by Forsyth County, North Carolina, with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision striking down the county’s prayer policy, which permitted local religious leaders to give non-denominational or sectarian invocations before public meetings. Gaylord wrote an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in that case and recently wrote another amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit in a similar case out of California. His presentations at the law schools focused on the Supreme Court’s recent development of the government speech doctrine and how that could affect the resolution of sectarian legislative prayer cases.

Also in November, Gaylord participated in a debate hosted by the Charlotte Lawyers Chapter of the Federal Society. The debate was titled, “Justice for Sale? Debating Judicial Elections and ‘Merit-Based’ Alternatives for the Selection of Judges in North Carolina.” Gaylord defended public elections of judges, and John R. Wester, a partner with Robinson, Bradshaw and Hinson, and past president of the North Carolina Bar Association advocated for an appointive system for selecting judges. Federal Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer moderated the debate, which was attended by more than 70 people.

Gaylord’s article, “When the Exception Becomes the Rule: Marsh and Sectarian Legislative Prayer Post-Summum,” was published in the Spring 2011 edition of the University of Cincinnati Law Review and will be the subject of his panel presentation early next year at the Nootbar Institute’s “The Competing Claims of Law and Religion Conference,” which will be held at Pepperdine Law School.

Click here for more information on Elon Law professor Scott Gaylord.