In the post-war decades, many Japanese blamed Shinto for encouraging the militaristic policy which had resulted in defeat and occupation. Others remained nostalgic for State Shinto, and concerns were repeatedly expressed that sectors of Japanese society were conspiring to restore it. Post-war, various legal debates have occurred over the involvement of public officials in Shinto. In 1965, for instance, the city of Tsu, Mie Prefecture paid four Shinto priests to purify the site where the municipal athletic hall was to be built. Critics brought the case to court, claiming it contravened the constitutional separation of church and state; in 1971 the high court ruled that the city administration's act had been unconstitutional, although this was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1977.