September 12, 2003

VMI Ruling Stands With Appeals Court

By WILL POTTER

Group prayers before evening meals at the Virginia Military Institute, declared unconstitutional by lower courts, remained out of bounds last month as a divided federal appeals court declined to rehear the case.

The 6-to-6 vote, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, let stand a ruling issued in April by a three-judge panel of the court. The panel unanimously upheld the trial-court judge and found that the prayers violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and

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