Not taking the case sounds like an answer to me
Scalia Rebukes Justices on Prayer Case
By ANNE GEARAN
WASHINGTON - Two of the Supreme Court's most conservative members delivered an unusual public rebuke to more liberal justices Monday, accusing them of ducking an important church-state fight over mealtime prayers at a taxpayer-funded military college.
Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, said the court should have taken the case to answer for the first time whether its ban on school-sponsored prayer for young children and high schoolers applies to college students as well.
Scalia delivered a polite but blunt critique of what he suggested are flimsy reasons for avoiding an appeal on behalf of the Virginia Military Institute, which is part of the state's university system.
The VMI case also gave the court an opportunity to rule on the constitutionality of traditional religious observance in military institutions, Scalia said.
"The weighty questions raised by petitioners ... deserve this court's attention," he wrote in protest.
Writing separately, Justice John Paul Stevens countered that the VMI case may be important, but suffers from procedural and other problems. He said Scalia is "quite wrong" in his characterization of why the court rejected the case. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer joined Stevens.
