Justice of the peace Judge Wayne Mack developed a chaplaincy program in 2014 in Montgomery County, Texas, that granted volunteer chaplains the opportunity to open Judge Mack’s court sessions with prayer. On Friday May 21, 2021, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt ruled the chaplain-led prayer violated the Establishment Clause of the federal Constitution.
The ruling came after the atheist organization Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sued Mack for his courtroom allowance of the chaplains’ prayers, saying they were unconstitutional.