UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

An application for a stay of the District Court's judgment, pending an appeal to the Court of Appeals, is granted. That judgment dismissed applicants' complaint and dissolved a preliminary injunction in an action challenging Alabama statutes that provided for a daily one-minute period for meditation or voluntary prayer in the public schools and that permitted teachers to lead their classes in prayer. The District Court correctly recognized that conducting prayers as part of a public school program is unconstitutional under this Court's decisions. Unless and until this Court reconsiders these decisions, the District Court is obligated to follow them. Similarly, a Circuit Justice's authority is limited by controlling decisions of the full Court.