WASHINGTON--The Supreme Court will not consider reinstating mealtime prayers at a state-funded military college, according to the Associated Press. The court refused to hear an appeal from Virginia officials who wanted to preserve the Virginia Military Institute tradition.

Justice Antonin Scalia and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist dissented. Scalia said he wanted to hear the case because it raised important church-state questions.

But the ruling of a lower federal court that found VMI's mealtime prayers violate the Constitution, will stand.

VMI is part of the state university system in Virginia. The case was brought against the school by two cadets, Neil Mellen and Paul Knick, who sued after the school refused to change the prayer ceremony. The American Civil Liberties Union represented the students.

"As we've said all along, a state institution may not endorse particular religious beliefs, and that constitutional principle has been clearly established for a long time," said Rebecca Glenberg, legal director for the Virginia ACLU. "The Supreme Court apparently has recognized that that principle applies to VMI just as it does to any other state institution."

Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore argued that the ruling against VMI threatens prayers at other institutions, including the Pentagon and the Naval Academy.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that VMI's suppertime prayers violated the principle of separation of church and state.

Then the full Richmond-based appeals court divided 6-6 over whether to reconsider the panel's ruling, so it stood.