An appeals court reversed a previous ruling allowing New York City religious organizations to use public schools for worship venues.
According to Bloomberg, the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a 2-1 decision on Thursday that overturned a ruling from June 2012.
The court ruled at the time that banning religious services in public school buildings was a violation of First Amendment rights.
"We respectfully disagree," U.S. Circuit Judges Pierre Leval and Guido Calabresi wrote in their ruling this week. Leval and Calabresi stated that the city's regulation was protected under the separation of church and state.
"We conclude that the board's prohibition was consistent with its constitutional duties," the court majority stated.
Reuters reported that Circuit Judge John Walker dissented.
For New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, however, giving "faith organizations playing by the same rules as any nonprofit," was still of great importance.
"They go through the same application process for space, pay the same rent," de Blasio stated during a press conference on Thursday. These groups "are very important in providing social services," he said.
The case, which has been pored over by court officials six times in the past 20 years, was first brought to the city in 1995, when the Bronx Household of Faith filed suit against NYC authorities. The religious organization argued at the time that allowing other groups to use the school for their own causes and events was unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled in favor of the Bronx Household of Faith at that time, Bloomberg reported.
De Blasio is slated to take another look at Thursday's ruling with NYC's head lawyer Zachary Carter.
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