Law Commons^™

The Tension Between Equal Protection And Religious Freedom, John M. Greabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] "The Constitution did not become our basic law at a single point in time. We ratified its first seven articles in 1788 but have since amended it 27 times. Many of these amendments memorialize fundamental shifts in values. Thus, it should come as no surprise to learn that the Constitution is not an internally consistent document."

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"Other constitutional provisions -- even provisions that were simultaneously enacted -- protect freedoms that can come into conflict with one another. The First Amendment, for example, promises both freedom from governmental endorsement of religion and freedom from governmental interference with religious practice. …

Cross Purposes: Remedying The Endorsement Of Symbolic Religious Speech, Jordan C. Budd

Law Faculty Scholarship

Justice O’Connor’s “perception of endorsement” standard governs the analysis of religious displays on public property for purposes of the Establishment Clause. The test rests on the perceptions of an “objective observer,” endowed with essentially perfect factual information, who assesses whether the display of religious imagery reasonably implies official endorsement of its message. Applying this standard, a well-developed jurisprudence unambiguously proscribes the permanent placement of religious symbols on public land. The remediation of these violations, however, is an ad hoc and often superficial exercise. This Article proposes a framework to realign the remedial inquiry with the rigorous assessment of the proscription …