Louisville: The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a challenge to a reference to "Almighty God" in Kentucky's homeland security law.

The high court on Monday rejected the case without comment.

The order came seven months after the Kentucky Supreme Court made a similar decision in a lawsuit brought by the group American Atheists. The plaintiffs had claimed in a 2008 suit that the law was a violation of constitutional bans on state-sponsored religion. The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the law and said the reference is made to "a generic 'God'" and doesn't "seek to prefer one belief over another."

The controversy arose because of two related laws passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.