Law Commons^™

Bigotry, Civility, And Reinvigorating Civic Education: Government's Formative Task Amidst Polarization, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

In the U.S. and around the globe, concerns over a decline in civility and tolerance and a surge in lethal extremist violence motivated by hatred of religious and racial groups make condemning—and preventing—hatred and bigotry seem urgent. What meaning can the ideal of e pluribus unum (“out of many one”) have in this fraught and polarized environment? Within the U.S., a long line of jurists, politicians, and educators have invoked civic education in public schools as vital to preserving constitutional democracy and a healthy pluralism. How can schools carry out such a civic role in times of democratic discord and …

Why Some Religious Accommodations For Mandatory Vaccinations Violate The Establishment Clause, Hillel Y. Levin

Scholarly Works

All states require parents to inoculate their children against deadly diseases prior to enrolling them in public schools, but the vast majority of states also allow parents to opt out on religious grounds. This religious accommodation imposes potentially grave costs on the children of non-vaccinating parents and on those who cannot be immunized. The Establishment Clause prohibits religious accommodations that impose such costs on third parties in some cases, but not in all. This presents a difficult line-drawing problem. The Supreme Court has offered little guidance, and scholars are divided.

This Article addresses the problem of religious accommodations that impose …

The Constitutional Issues Surrounding The Science-Religion Conflict In Public Schools: The Anti-Evolution Controversy, Michael M. Greenburg

Pepperdine Law Review

Since the infamous Scopes trial the matter of the constitutional validity of the "anti-evolution" laws has plagued both legal scholars and school administrators. The courts have generally invalidated legislation which bans outright the teaching of evolution in public schools, but with the advent of the "balanced treatment" acts, a revival of this litigation has begun. The author examines the constitutional analysis utilized by the courts in dealing with the "anti-evolution" and "balanced treatment" acts and provides an historical perspective of the first amendment to question the Court's response to the issue.

Avoiding Religious Apartheid: Affording Equal Treatment For Student-Initiated Religious Expression In Public Schools , John W. Whitehead

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tango Or More - From California's Lesson 9 To The Constitutionality Of A Gay-Friendly Curriculum In Public Elementary Schools, Amy Lai

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

In August 2009, a group of parents in California filed a lawsuit, Balde v. Alameda Unified School District, in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda. They alleged that the Alameda Unified School District refused them the right to excuse their children from a new curriculum, Lesson 9, that would teach public elementary school children about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) families. The proposed curriculum included short sessions about GLBT people, incorporated into more general lessons about family and health, once a year from kindergarten through fifth grade. Kindergarteners would learn the harms of teasing, while fifth graders …

Teachers' Religious Garb As An Instrument For Globalization In Education, Caitlin S. Kerr

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Nebraska and Pennsylvania currently have laws in place that prohibit public school teachers from wearing religious garb. This Note applies the appropriate constitutional framework-a balancing test-in order to determine the propriety of a religious garb statute. Courts have upheld the statutes in light of perceived government endorsement of teachers' religion and feared impact on impressionable young children. However, both of these concerns are exaggerated and misplaced. Rather, a court must consider the demands a newly globalized world places on effective education for tomorrow's global citizens.

Education As A Counterterrorism Tool And The Curious Case Of The Texas School Book Resolution, Diane Webber

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

R (On The Application Of E) (Respondent) V Governing Body Of Jfs And The Admissions Appeal Panel Of Jfs (Appellants) And Others (Case Note) [2009] Uksc 15, Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler

Dr. Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler

This case-note offers comparative perspectives on the UK Supreme Court’s judgment in the JFS case (alleged racially discriminatory school admissions policy) and the Israeli Supreme Court’s judgment in the Emanuel Haredi school case (alleged Ashkenazi/Sephardi segregation arrangements).

Public School Students' Religious Speech And Viewpoint Discrimination, Kristi L. Bowman

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why Student Religious Speech Is Speech, John E. Taylor

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Too Much, Too Little: Religion In The Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Too Much, Too Little: Religion In The Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

The current state of religion in the nation's public schools is odd indeed. On the one hand, the courts have consistently held that public school teachers may not lead their students in an organized prayer. Yet on the other hand, most people seem to agree that there is no problem with those same teachers leading their students in the Pledge of Allegiance, an exercise that asks students on a daily basis, not only to explicitly recognize the existence of a single god, but also to link the nation's very identity to that highly contested theological proposition. Likewise, despite the fact …

Silence Of The Lambs: Are States Attempting To Establish Religion In Public Schools?, Linda D.W. Lam

Vanderbilt Law Review

The proper role of religion in public schools has been a topic of bitter debate for many years. While one group of individuals believes that there should be a complete separation of church and state, another group believes that religion should have an integral place in public education. Although both groups have looked to the circumstances surrounding the enactment of the First Amendment to support their respective positions, each has been unable to find clear, definitive support regarding the appropriate relationship between religion and public schools, as there was no public education system at that time. One major issue that …

The New Face Of Creationism: The Establishment Clause And The Latest Efforts To Suppress Evolution In Public Schools, Deborah A. Reule

Vanderbilt Law Review

Over seventy-five years after the impassioned debate be- tween William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow echoed through a hot Tennessee courtroom, the controversial confrontation over science, religion, law, and education can still be heard in legislative halls, courtrooms, schools, and homes across the nation. The now infamous "Scopes Monkey Trial" of 19253 brought the debate between religious fundamentalism and modern day scientific theory to the forefront and sparked twenty state legislatures to consider measures to prohibit the teaching of evolution in public schools. Nearly a century later, the dispute rages on. Twenty states considered anti-evolution measures in both the 1920s …

Freedom Of Religion In Public Schools In Germany And In The United States, Inke Muehlhoff

LLM Theses and Essays

Unfortunately, in terms of religions, the strict neutrality is almost impossible to reach and most countries that have adopted such a principle still face religious conflicts. However, these conflicts have shifted from armed conflicts to legal conflicts and battles of words, which offer at least a more peaceful way to fight. One major battleground for these religious conflicts concerns the role of religion in the public school system. That battleground is the subject of this thesis. The discussion of how religion should be treated in the public school system will be based on a comparison between Germany and the United …

L'Affaire Des Foulards--Discrimination, Or The Price Of A Secular Public Education System?, Cynthia D. Baines

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note examines the recent controversy over France's ban against "ostentatious" religious symbols in public schools. The only ostentatious symbol targeted by the French government, however, has been the head scarves worn by Muslim schoolgirls. The author explores the roots of the current ban by examining France's tradition of assimilation of immigrants and its constitutionally mandated secular public education system. The author also compares France's interests in prohibiting head scarves with the Muslim students' interests in practicing their religion. Finally, the author concludes that the French policy of banning head scarves from school is not only impractical, but likely a …

Teaching The Theories Of Evolution And Scientific Creationism In The Public Schools: The First Amendment Religion Clauses And Permissible Relief, J. Greg Whitehair

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note explores the propriety of teaching the theory of evolution and the scientific creation model in public elementary and secondary schools. Part I discusses the powers of the state and its political subdivisions to set public school policy and curriculum content and the extent to which those powers are circumscribed by the religion clauses of the first amendment. Part I concludes that the religion clauses permit the teaching of evolutionary theory in public schools. Part II examines the variety of judicial and legislative relief potentially available to creationists where the teaching of evolution theory interferes with their religious beliefs …

Constitutional Law--Church And State--Freedom Of Religion--The Constitutionality Under The Religion Clauses Of The First Amendment Of Compulsory Sex Education In Public Schools, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

It has been said that "[s]ex education, once the domain of the church and the home, has by necessity, become a responsibility of the schools." Indeed, by the operation of most state education statutes, sex education can be made compulsory in public primary and secondary schools if it is taught as part of otherwise compulsory classes or if the local school authorities have prescribed sex education courses as a compulsory part of the curriculum. While some of the state statutes authorize exemptions on religious grounds, most do not. Nevertheless, the introduction of sex education into public schools has not been …

Religion And The Public Schools, P. Raymond Bartholomew

Vanderbilt Law Review

The first amendment to the United States Constitution contains a dual command with respect to governmental involvement with religion: government must "make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Although some have insisted that the first amendment requires a strict separation of church and state, the conclusion is inescapable that the two clauses were intended to operate together in harmony. It is apparent, therefore, that the conflicting policies of the "no establishment" clause and the "free exercise" clause must be balanced and reconciled. The United States Supreme Court has held that this balancing effort …

Constitutional Law-Judcial Powers-State Taxpayer Denied Standing As Party In Interest In Bible Reading Case, Frank M. Bowen, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs sought a judgment to declare unconstitutional a New Jersey statute which required the reading of five verses of the Old Testament at the opening of each day in the public schools. Plaintiffs contended that the practice under the statute was an "establishment of religion" prohibited by the First Amendment and applicable to the several states through the "due process" clause of the Fourteenth Amendment Both plaintiffs were taxpayers of New Jersey, and one was also the parent of a child who had attended a public school, but had left school before the appeal was taken. The Supreme Court of …