"Civil liberties lawyers have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a Wiccan priestess to offer prayers before a public board's meetings.

Cynthia Simpson was turned down in 2002 when she asked the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors to add her name to the list of people who customarily open the board's meetings with a religious invocation. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the suburban Richmond county.

In their petition, received Tuesday by the court, American Civil Liberties Union lawyers accuse the federal appeals court of trying to "obscure with legal smoke and mirrors" Chesterfield's preference for mainline religions.

"Although Establishment Clause jurisprudence may be beset with conflicting tests, uncertain outcomes and ongoing debate, one principle has never been compromised ... that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another," ACLU lawyers wrote in their 13-page filing.

County officials said they had the right to limit the prayers to Judeo-Christian beliefs and religions based on a single god. Though many variations exist, the Wiccan faith is a generally multi-diety religion with strong focus on earth and seasonal cycles.

"The First Amendment prohibits governments from having an official religion," ACLU Virginia's legal director, Rebecca Glenberg, said in an interview.

Chesterfield County attorney Steven Micas was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

In 2003, a federal judge ruled the Chesterfield restriction unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit in Richmond reversed that decision in April. "