[2] In 1969, students protested after New Jersey courts ended a prayer program.
[1] Judge Joseph Stamler of New Jersey Superior Court issued a decision in February 1970 in the case State Board of Education v. Board of Education of Netcong, New Jersey regarding a policy under which the district's school board provided for voluntary readings at the start of the school day at the high school of prayers that had been published in the Congressional Record, as delivered by Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.
Attendance at these readings was voluntary, and the board said that they were intended as inspirational remarks, rather than prayer in the schools.
[3] In his decision, Judge Stamler prohibited what he described as a "subterfuge [that] is degrading to all religions", arguing that by taking what were "beautiful prayers" and referring to them merely as "remarks", the school district was working to "peddle religion in a very cheap manner under an assumed name."
The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously affirmed Stamler's decision and the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the district's school board.