Law Commons^™

American Legion V. American Humanist Association, Seth T. Bonilla

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The separation of church and state is a key element of American democracy, but its interpretation has been challenged as the country grows more diverse. In American Legion v. American Humanist Association, the Supreme Court adopted a new standard to analyze whether a religious symbol on public land maintained by public funding violated the Constitution’s Establishment Clause.

The Struggle Of Kosovo Policymakers To Upgrade The Law On Religious Affairs, Jeton Mehmeti

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Apart from guarantees over freedom of religion, in the last two decades, authorities in Kosovo have made little progress in advancing its legal framework to accommodate the emerging needs of religious communities. The only law that regulates religious affairs in Kosovo is the 2006 Law on Freedom of Religion. The law is framed in very broad terms, and has received a lot of criticism for failing to properly regulate the status of religious communities. Representatives of these communities have consistently asked for changes to legislation that would grant them the status of legal entities. Without legal entity status, religious communities …

Treading On Sacred Land: First Amendment Implications Of Ice's Targeting Of Churches, Gabriella M. D'Agostini

Michigan Law Review

In the last few years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun to target religious institutions—specifically churches—as a means to find and arrest undocumented immigrants. This technique is in legal tension with the First Amendment rights of free exercise of religion and free association. It is unclear, however, how these legal rights protect those most affected by this targeting tactic: undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants may lack standing to challenge ICE’s tactics on their own and may require the help of related parties to protect their interests.

This Note explores a potential solution to the ambiguity surrounding undocumented immigrants’ protection under …

The United States International Religious Freedom Act, Nonstate Actors, And The Donbas Crisis, Robert C. Blitt

Book Chapters

This chapter explores whether recent changes to the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) furnish the U.S. government with effective tools for engaging with and taking potential action against nonstate actors, such as the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), operating in the context of the Donbas crisis. Among the major amendments to IRFA introduced at the end of 2016, the statute now provides the U.S. government with the formal obligation to report on violent nonstate actors (NSAs) found to be violating freedom of religion or belief. In addition, the executive branch may designate those NSAs …