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State courts and Indiana's government offices are closed today in observance of Good Friday, but it's because of
a lawsuit a decade ago that they can take this as a holiday.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to not get involved in an Indiana suit challenging
the state's longtime practice of closing offices and giving state employees a day off in observance of Good Friday. On
March 6, 2000, the nation's highest court without comment allowed the state to continue what's been in place since
1941.
The suit, Russell Bridenbaugh v. Frank O'Bannon, 195 F.3d 796 (7th Cir. 1999), was brought by Bloomington resident
Russell Bridenbaugh who argued the holiday violated the constitutional requirement of separation of church and state. In the
original 1997 suit, now-retired U.S. Magistrate Judge V. Sue Shields dismissed Bridenbaugh's challenge without a trial.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld her decision in 1999 by a 2-1 vote. Judges Michael Kanne and Daniel Manion were in
the majority, while now-deceased Judge Thomas Fairchild dissented.
In writing the opinion, the two-judge majority held that Indiana's purpose in observing Good Friday as a state holiday
was not motivated by religion, as Bridenbaugh had claimed was the case. Judge Manion wrote, "To Indiana, Good Friday
is nothing but a Friday falling in the middle of the long vacationless spring – a day which employees should take off to rejuvenate
themselves."
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