ACLU of Alaska Applauds Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly for Reversing Unconstitutional Invocation Policy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 23, 2016

 

SOLDOTNA, ALASKA – Last night, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly ended its unconstitutional policy of using a religion test to decide who may give invocations before Assembly meetings. In response, American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska Executive Director Joshua A. Decker stated:

 

“The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska is pleased that the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly heeded our concerns and rescinded its unconstitutional religion test to decide who may—and may not—give invocations before Assembly meetings. We trust that, just as before and as the Constitution requires, the Assembly will once again allow anyone—religious believers, agnostics, and atheists—to solemnize Assembly meetings and fully participate in the public civic life of the Kenai Peninsula Borough.” 

 

The American Civil Liberties Union is our nation’s guardian of liberty. For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been at the forefront of virtually every major battle for civil liberties and equal justice in this country. Principled and nonpartisan, the ACLU works in the courts, legislatures, and communities to preserve and expand the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. The ACLU of Alaska, founded in 1971, is one of the 53 state ACLU affiliates that strive to make the Bill of Rights real for everyone and to uphold the promise of the Constitution—because freedom can’t protect itself.

 

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