The Law of Church and State in the Supreme Court Revisited

The Law of Church and State in the Supreme Court Revisited

Author: David M. Ackerman

Publisher: Nova Publishers

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9781594546426

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The religion clauses of the First Amendment provide that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...." In modern times the Supreme Court has frequently construes these clauses to create, in Thomas Jefferson's oft-quoted metaphor, a "wall of separation between church and state". The Court's decisions have precipitated substantial opposition and, in particularly since the election of Ronald Reagan to the Presidency in 1980, a concerted and partly successful effort to change its separatist constructions of the religion clauses. This volume summarises the doctrinal debates and shifts on the religion clauses that have occurred on the Court during this period. It summarises and examines as well the legal effect of each of the 56 decisions the Court has handed down concerning church and state since 1980.


The Religion Clauses

The Religion Clauses

Author: Howard Gillman

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0190699736

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In The Religion Clauses, Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman examine the extremely controversial issue of the relationship between religion and government. They argue for a separation of church and state. To the greatest extent possible, the government should remain secular. At the same, time they contend that religion should not provide a basis for an exemptions from general laws, such as those prohibiting discrimination or requiring the provision of services.


Democracy and Distrust

Democracy and Distrust

Author: John Hart Ely

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1981-08-15

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0674263294

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This powerfully argued appraisal of judicial review may change the face of American law. Written for layman and scholar alike, the book addresses one of the most important issues facing Americans today: within what guidelines shall the Supreme Court apply the strictures of the Constitution to the complexities of modern life? Until now legal experts have proposed two basic approaches to the Constitution. The first, “interpretivism,” maintains that we should stick as closely as possible to what is explicit in the document itself. The second, predominant in recent academic theorizing, argues that the courts should be guided by what they see as the fundamental values of American society. John Hart Ely demonstrates that both of these approaches are inherently incomplete and inadequate. Democracy and Distrust sets forth a new and persuasive basis for determining the role of the Supreme Court today. Ely’s proposal is centered on the view that the Court should devote itself to assuring majority governance while protecting minority rights. “The Constitution,” he writes, “has proceeded from the sensible assumption that an effective majority will not unreasonably threaten its own rights, and has sought to assure that such a majority not systematically treat others less well than it treats itself. It has done so by structuring decision processes at all levels in an attempt to ensure, first, that everyone’s interests will be represented when decisions are made, and second, that the application of those decisions will not be manipulated so as to reintroduce in practice the sort of discrimination that is impermissible in theory.” Thus, Ely’s emphasis is on the procedural side of due process, on the preservation of governmental structure rather than on the recognition of elusive social values. At the same time, his approach is free of interpretivism’s rigidity because it is fully responsive to the changing wishes of a popular majority. Consequently, his book will have a profound impact on legal opinion at all levels—from experts in constitutional law, to lawyers with general practices, to concerned citizens watching the bewildering changes in American law.


Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

Author: Daniel Dreisbach

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2003-10

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 0814719368

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

No phrase in American letters has had a more profound influence on church-state law, policy, and discourse than Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation between church and state," and few metaphors have provoked more passionate debate.


Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court

Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court

Author: Vincent Phillip Munoz

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2015-03-27

Total Pages: 679

ISBN-13: 1442250321

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Throughout American history, legal battles concerning the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberty have been among the most contentious issue of the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court: The Essential Cases and Documents represents the most authoritative and up-to-date overview of the landmark cases that have defined religious freedom in America. Noted religious liberty expert Vincent Philip Munoz (Notre Dame) provides carefully edited excerpts from over fifty of the most important Supreme Court religious liberty cases. In addition, Munoz’s substantive introduction offers an overview on the constitutional history of religious liberty in America. Introductory headnotes to each case provides the constitutional and historical context. Religious Liberty and the American Constitution is an indispensable resource for anyone interested matters of religious freedom from the Republic’s earliest days to current debates.


The Oxford Handbook of Church and State in the United States

The Oxford Handbook of Church and State in the United States

Author: Derek Davis

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2010-11-18

Total Pages: 592

ISBN-13: 0195326245

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

21 essays present a scholarly look at the intricacies and past and current debates that frame the American system of church and state, within 5 main areas: history, politics, sociology theology/philosophy and law.


Religion and the State

Religion and the State

Author: Natalie Goldstein

Publisher: Infobase Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 1438131240

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Presents a guide to the issues related to religion and the state, including definitions, primary sources, important documents, research tools, organizations, and notable persons.


Foundations of Education

Foundations of Education

Author: Samuel M. Craver

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2011-06-30

Total Pages: 435

ISBN-13: 1441154469

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Foundations of Education is organized around the major problems facing contemporary American education. It offers a thorough, scholarly treatment of these problems from historical, philosophical, and sociological perspectives, bringing together relevant findings from those disciplines to analyze and illuminate a wide range of issues. Each chapter focuses on a core topic (including race, gender, equal opportunities, school governance) to give students a solid overview, providing intellectually sound material that offers real depth and challenges students to think creatively. Packed with exercises, discussion questions, international case studies for comparative purposes and supported by a fully up-to-date companion website, this is a text that responds to current developments, changes, and trends in teacher education. Foundations of Education will prepare a new generation of educators for a globalized and technology-driven society that needs to be aware of its best educational traditions, its current problems and its future possibilities.


The Impossibility of Religious Freedom

The Impossibility of Religious Freedom

Author: Winnifred Fallers Sullivan

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2018-04-24

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 0691180954

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Constitution may guarantee it. But religious freedom in America is, in fact, impossible. So argues this timely and iconoclastic work by law and religion scholar Winnifred Sullivan. Sullivan uses as the backdrop for the book the trial of Warner vs. Boca Raton, a recent case concerning the laws that protect the free exercise of religion in America. The trial, for which the author served as an expert witness, concerned regulations banning certain memorials from a multiconfessional nondenominational cemetery in Boca Raton, Florida. The book portrays the unsuccessful struggle of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish families in Boca Raton to preserve the practice of placing such religious artifacts as crosses and stars of David on the graves of the city-owned burial ground. Sullivan demonstrates how, during the course of the proceeding, citizens from all walks of life and religious backgrounds were harassed to define just what their religion is. She argues that their plight points up a shocking truth: religion cannot be coherently defined for the purposes of American law, because everyone has different definitions of what religion is. Indeed, while religious freedom as a political idea was arguably once a force for tolerance, it has now become a force for intolerance, she maintains. A clear-eyed look at the laws created to protect religious freedom, this vigorously argued book offers a new take on a right deemed by many to be necessary for a free democratic society. It will have broad appeal not only for religion scholars, but also for anyone interested in law and the Constitution. Featuring a new preface by the author, The Impossibility of Religious Freedom offers a new take on a right deemed by many to be necessary for a free democratic society.