On one side of the court, justices Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor view the prayers offered at the town board meetings as overtly religious and posing a significant threat of coercion.
It places residents about to appear before the board in the position of risking the ire of board members (and losing votes) if they refuse to participate in a public prayer that is obviously important to board members.
On the other side of the court, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Kennedy appear more concerned about the problem of the government trying to fine-tune an expression of religious belief ”“ or to censor it.