COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina's attorney general has filed papers with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a town council's appeal of an order barring it from opening meetings with prayers in the name of Jesus.

Great Falls resident Darla Wynne, a Wiccan high priestess, sued in 2001 for using Jesus' name in prayers before council meetings.

The Great Falls Town Council lost in federal court and its appeals to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster filed a brief supporting the council Thursday.

He says the decisions could tangle the courts in reviewing the content of prayers.

That raises free speech questions.

"It is illogical and unhistorical to conclude that while a prayer for divine guidance is constitutionally acceptable, prayer to a divine being is not," McMaster said Monday in a prepared statement.

In his brief, McMaster says invoking the name of Jesus does not advance a specific faith or belief and is part of legislative tradition.