Rick Garnett was quoted in the Religion News Service article Supreme Court approves sectarian prayer at public meetings on May 5.

But University of Notre Dame law professor Richard W. Garnett, who specializes in church/state relations and religious freedom, called the decision correct and unsurprising.

“What might be surprising, though, is that four justices dissented. It would have been a dramatic and controversial move … to rule that legislative prayers are necessarily unconstitutional,” Garnett said.

Just because sectarian prayers are constitutional, Garnett said, doesn’t mean that policies like those of the town of Greece “are wise or welcoming.”