Based upon the "unbroken history" of congressional chaplains opening legislative sessions with prayer, the Supreme Court in Marsh v. Chambers upheld the constitutionality of Nebraska's legislative chaplain. 463 U.S. at 792. "To invoke Divine guidance on a public body entrusted with making the laws," the Court concluded, "is not, in these circumstances, an 'establishment' of religion or a step toward establishment; it is simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country." Id.
B. PLAINTIFF'S COMPLAINT
Despite the historical and judicial pedigree of the congressional chaplaincies, plaintiff alleges in this complaint that the existence and public funding of the congressional chaplaincies violate the First Amendment to the Constitution and Article VI. Plaintiff concedes that in Marsh v. Chambers the Supreme Court "declared... that use of and payment to legislative chaplains does not violate the Establishment Clause." Compl. 1} 14. Nonetheless, apparently unaware of the fidelity owed by lower courts to decisions of the United States Supreme Court, plaintiff contends that "Marsh has been overruled" by general statements of law in more recent Supreme Court opinions that he alleges are "inconsistent" or in "direct[j conflict" with "the holding in Marsh" Id. H15,18,19.5
5 The "statements" of law plaintiff cites are (Compl. ^ 16,18):
"Government may not engage in a practice that has the effect of promoting or endorsing religious beliefs," Allegheny County v. Greater Pittsburgh ACLU, 492 U.S. 573, 621 (1989); "The design of the Constitution is that preservation and transmission of religious beliefs and worship is a responsibility and a choice committed to the private sphere," Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577, 590 (1992);
*'[C]ivil power must be exercised in a manner neutral to religion," Board of Education ofKiryas Joel v. Grumet, 512 U.S. 687, 704 (1994); "[TJhough the First Amendment does not allow the government to stifle prayers which aspire to these ends, neither does it permit the government to undertake that task for itself,"
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