ADVERTISEMENT 5th Circ. To Allow Judge's Courtroom Prayers Amid Appeal Law360 (July 12, 2021, 7:31 PM EDT) -- The Fifth Circuit has ruled that a local Texas justice of the peace can continue allowing volunteer chaplains to open his court proceedings with prayer while he appeals a federal court ruling that the practice violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment. A three-judge panel of the appellate court determined Friday that Montgomery County Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack had "made a strong showing that the district court erred" when it ordered him in May to stop the practice. "It's beyond cavil that Judge Mack will be irreparably harmed in the absence of a stay pending appeal," the panel wrote, adding...