Society of Separationists, Inc. v. Herman
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
939 F.2d 1207 (1991)
After atheist Murray-O'Hair refused to swear a jury oath referencing God or make Texas's alternative nonreligious affirmation (which she believed still carried religious connotations), Judge Herman (defendant) sanctioned and barred her from the jury; her first suit against Texas officials (not Herman personally) was dismissed on the ground she had no constitutional right to sit on a jury, with the judge also opining in dicta that the affirmation option avoided any Establishment Clause problem, a dismissal the Fifth Circuit affirmed. Murray-O'Hair and the Society of Separationists (plaintiffs) then brought this second suit against Herman personally under the Free Exercise Clause, and the district court entered judgment for Herman.
Whether the doctrine of stare decisis holds that how an issue was decided in an earlier case determines how the issue must be decided in a later case.