When the Supreme Court ruled this week that town board meetings could begin with prayers, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas suggested the Constitution gives states a lot more power over religion than many realize.

Thomas wrote in a separate opinion that the Constitution doesn’t specifically bar states from establishing their own religions, as the Wall Street Journal reports.

The fact that some states had established churches when the nation was founded suggests “the First Amendment was simply agnostic on the subject of state establishments; the decision to establish or disestablish religion was reserved to the states,” Thomas wrote.

More: Clarence Thomas Wrote a Bizarre Opinion About Religion and the Constitution