tim o'brien reports. >> o yea, o yea, o yea.the house and senate routinely begin with prayer. >> let us pray. almighty god. >> reporter: the supreme court ruled 30 years ago that doing so does not violate first amendment prohibition of government establishment of religion. this week's case from greece, new york, a predominantly christian suburb of rochester may test the limits of such prayer. the prayers that open the town board monthly meetings are almost always christian as are those who give them. >> we acknowledge the saving sacrifice of jesus christ on the christ. >> father alex bradshaw, a frequent prayer giver is typical. >> from his resurrection at easter, jesus christ, who took away the sins of the world. >> reporter: a federal appeals court in new york ruled a town unconstitutionally favored the christian faith. after observing that two-thirds of the prayers offered contains references to jesus, your son, or the holy spirit. attorney tom hungar defending the town of greece in the supreme court warned of the risk of all

tim o'brien reports. >> o yea, o yea, o yea. all persons having business before the honorable supreme court of the united states. >> reporter: the court's hearing itself began with an invocation. >>> the house and senate routinely begin with prayer. >> let us pray. almighty god. >> reporter: the supreme court ruled 30 years ago that doing so does not violate first amendment prohibition of government establishment of religion. this week's case from greece, new york, a predominantly christian suburb of rochester may test the limits of such prayer. the prayers that open the town board monthly meetings are almost always christian as are those who give them. >> we acknowledge the saving sacrifice of jesus christ on the christ. >> father alex bradshaw, a frequent prayer giver is typical. >> from his resurrection at easter, jesus christ, who took away the sins of the world. >> reporter: a federal appeals court in new york ruled a town unconstitutionally favored the christian faith. after observing that two-thirds of the prayers offered

new britton's mayor tim o'brien says the suspect in custody, but the all clear on campus has not yet been given. much more on this throughout the hour. it sounds as if what was a difficult situation on campus there has now narrowed down as a suspect is in custody. >>> the white house has a heads up that obama care was amisyears before last months bungled website rollout. that confi in his memo, advisor david cutler wrote, i do not believe the relevant members of the administration understand the president's vision or have the capacity to carry it out. he even suggested that the specific changes, he said, could help the new health care law's rollout go smoothly. and he cautioned, i strongly encourage you to make changes now before you are too late to get the outcomes we need. but according to a lengthy investigation in the "washington post" newspaper, the white house ignored the warnings. move forward three years, those warnings become reality. a website that could not handle the large numbers of people logging on. the white house says it will have those problems fixed by the end of t

contributing correspondent tim o'brien has the story. >> the august 20, 2013, meeting of the greece town board will now come to order! >> reporter: ever since john auberger was elected town supervisor 15 years ago in greece, new york, a predominantly catholic suburb of rochester, the town has begun its monthly meetings with a prayer. >> for the benefit of all greece and mankind in general, we offer these prayers. >> reporter: on this evening last august, the prayer was offered by tom lynch, an adherent of the bahai faith. >> oh thou, oh kind lord, this gathering is turning to thee. >> reporter: it was auberger's idea. >> it's important from primarily a historical perspective. our founding fathers believed in the right for us to pray and have that freedom of expression in prayer, and that's what we offer here today in 2013 in the town of greece. >> reporter: but the founding fathers also drafted the first amendment, prohibiting the government from establishing religion-no state sponsored church. two greece residents-- linda stephens, an atheist; and susan galloway, who is jewish-- say for