7 years ago

(CNN) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry called Sunday for a constitutional amendment to allow prayer in public schools.

Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," the Republican presidential hopeful went a step further than his previous calls for the Supreme Court to reverse its 1962 decision that banned organized prayer in public schools.



Perry said he would support "a constitutional amendment that would allow our children to pray in school any time that they would like."

Such a proposal would easily pass if put to a nationwide vote, Perry said. The step is necessary because of what Perry called "activist judges" appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court like Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Both justices were named to the court by President Barack Obama.

The issue of prayer in school should a local decision, rather than an issue foisted on the public by the Supreme Court, Perry said.

Asked about his recent gaffe in which he could not remember Sotomayor's name, Perry said that Americans were "looking for someone who is going to make the right decisions, not someone who can either read a teleprompter perfectly or spit out by memory a list of names."