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Full-Text Articles in Law

No Aid, No Agency, Steven K. Green Jul 2021

No Aid, No Agency, Steven K. Green

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Over the past three decades, members of the Supreme Court have demonstrated increasing hostility to the Establishment Clause’s rule against funding religion, first enunciated in 1947. Over the years, the Court has not only narrowed the rule to allow for government aid to flow to religious schools and faith-based charities, it has more recently declared that to enforce that rule may amount to discrimination against religion. This Article argues that a key reason for the decline in the no-aid principle rests on the weakness of the rationale underlying that rule: that funding of religion coerces the conscience of taxpayers. The …


An Illiberal Union, Sonu Bedi May 2018

An Illiberal Union, Sonu Bedi

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article breaks new ground by applying the philosophical framework of liberal neutrality (most famously articulated by John Rawls) to the United States Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on marriage. At first blush, the Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges—the culmination of marriage rights—seems to affirm a central principle of liberalism, namely equal access to marriage regardless of sexual orientation. Gays and lesbians can finally take part in an institution that celebrates the union of two committed individuals. But perversely, in its attempt to expand access to marriage, the Court has simultaneously entrenched values that are antithetical to the basic tenants …


Not Today, Satan: Re-Examining Viewpoint Discrimination In The Limited Public Forum, Daniel Cutler May 2018

Not Today, Satan: Re-Examining Viewpoint Discrimination In The Limited Public Forum, Daniel Cutler

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


The Schofield/Gunner Decisions And Episcopal Church Property-Splitting Litigation: Considering Proposed Improvements To The Litigation Process And The Neutral Principles Of Law Doctrine, Ten Years On, Timothy D. Watson Apr 2018

The Schofield/Gunner Decisions And Episcopal Church Property-Splitting Litigation: Considering Proposed Improvements To The Litigation Process And The Neutral Principles Of Law Doctrine, Ten Years On, Timothy D. Watson

William & Mary Business Law Review

In recent years, the Episcopal Church in the United States has seen a spate of parishes leaving the Church. Many of these departing parishes have attempted to take property with them as they leave and continue to operate independently or realign themselves with a different denomination. The Episcopal Church maintains that this property is held by the parishes on behalf of the national Church, and has generally been successful in obtaining a return of the property through legal action. In deciding these suits, state courts have skirted carefully around the contours of ecclesiastical questions; many state courts, following the Supreme …


Religious Tests And The British Monarchy, Nathan B. Oman Apr 2015

Religious Tests And The British Monarchy, Nathan B. Oman

Popular Media

No abstract provided.


The Need For A Law Of Church And Market, Nathan B. Oman Apr 2015

The Need For A Law Of Church And Market, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

This Essay uses Helfand and Richman’s fine article to raise the question of the law of church and market. In Part I, I argue that the question of religion’s proper relationship to the market is more than simply another aspect of the church-state debates. Rather, it is a topic deserving explicit reflection in its own right. In Part II, I argue that Helfand and Richman demonstrate the danger of creating the law of church and market by accident. Courts and legislators do this when they resolve questions religious commerce poses by applying legal theories developed without any thought for the …


Eating Hot Peppers To Avoid Hiv/Aids: New Challenges To Failing Abstinence-Only Programs, Erica Woebse May 2014

Eating Hot Peppers To Avoid Hiv/Aids: New Challenges To Failing Abstinence-Only Programs, Erica Woebse

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Note examines abstinence-only education curricula, including its history, criticisms against it, and the failure of judicial challenges to end its promotion and federal funding. It addresses how abstinence-only education has managed to remain a central means of teaching sexual education, despite its ineffective and controversial nature. Finally, this Note will discuss how abstinence-only education curricula may fall out of favor or be modified with new state and federal requirements that sexual educational curricula be medically accurate. This is demonstrated by the American Academy of Pediatrics v. Clovis Unified School District case in California.


The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself: Islamophobia And The Recently Proposed Unconstitutional And Unnecessary Anti-Religion Laws, Lee Tankle Nov 2012

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself: Islamophobia And The Recently Proposed Unconstitutional And Unnecessary Anti-Religion Laws, Lee Tankle

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


The Equal Protection Implications Of Government's Hateful Speech, Helen Norton Nov 2012

The Equal Protection Implications Of Government's Hateful Speech, Helen Norton

William & Mary Law Review

Under what circumstances should we understand government’s racist or otherwise hateful speech to violate the Equal Protection Clause? Government speech that communicates hostility or animus on the basis of race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or other class status can facilitate private parties’ discriminatory behavior, deter its targets from certain important opportunities or activities, and communicate a message of exclusion and second-class status. Contemporary equal protection doctrine, however, does not yet fully address the harms that such government expression potentially poses. The recent emergence of the Court’s government speech doctrine—which to date has emphasized the value of government expression without …


Kiss The Book...You're President...: "So Help Me God" And Kissing The Book In The Presidential Oath Of Office, Frederick B. Jonassen Mar 2012

Kiss The Book...You're President...: "So Help Me God" And Kissing The Book In The Presidential Oath Of Office, Frederick B. Jonassen

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


The Fading Free Exercise Clause, Rene Reyes Mar 2011

The Fading Free Exercise Clause, Rene Reyes

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article uses the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Christian Legal Society
v. Martinez as a point of departure for analyzing the current state of free exercise doctrine. I argue that one of the most notable features of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) case is its almost total lack of engagement with the Free Exercise Clause. For the core of CLS’s complaint was unambiguously about the declaration and exercise of religious beliefs: the group claimed that it was being excluded from campus life because it required its members to live according to shared religious principles and to subscribe to a …


Constantly Approximating Popular Sovereignty: Seven Fundamental Principles Of Constitutional Law, Wilson R. Huhn Dec 2010

Constantly Approximating Popular Sovereignty: Seven Fundamental Principles Of Constitutional Law, Wilson R. Huhn

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Government Identity Speech And Religion: Establishment Clause Limits After Summum, Mary Jean Dolan Oct 2010

Government Identity Speech And Religion: Establishment Clause Limits After Summum, Mary Jean Dolan

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article offers in-depth analysis of the opinions in Pleasant Grove v. Summum. Summum is a significant case because it expands “government speech” to cover broad, thematic government identity messages in the form of donated monuments, including the much-litigated Fraternal Order of Eagles-donated Ten Commandments. The Article explores the fine distinctions between the new “government speech doctrine”— a defense in Free Speech Clause cases that allows government to express its own viewpoint and to reject alternative views—and “government speech” analyzed under the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government from expressing a viewpoint on religion, and from favoring some religions over others. …


The Nonproblem Of Fundamentalism, Andrew Koppelman May 2010

The Nonproblem Of Fundamentalism, Andrew Koppelman

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Fundamentalist Challenges To Core Democratic Values: Exit And Homeschooling, Catherine J. Ross May 2010

Fundamentalist Challenges To Core Democratic Values: Exit And Homeschooling, Catherine J. Ross

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Introduction: Perspectives On Religious Fundamentalism And Families In The U.S., Vivian E. Hamilton May 2010

Introduction: Perspectives On Religious Fundamentalism And Families In The U.S., Vivian E. Hamilton

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


God Of Our Fathers, Gods For Ourselves: Fundamentalism And Postmodern Belief, Frederick Mark Gedicks May 2010

God Of Our Fathers, Gods For Ourselves: Fundamentalism And Postmodern Belief, Frederick Mark Gedicks

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Family Values, Courts, And Culture War: The Case Of Abstinence-Only Sex Education, John E. Taylor May 2010

Family Values, Courts, And Culture War: The Case Of Abstinence-Only Sex Education, John E. Taylor

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Must God Be Dead Or Irrelevant: Drawing A Circle That Lets Me In, Richard M. Esenberg Oct 2009

Must God Be Dead Or Irrelevant: Drawing A Circle That Lets Me In, Richard M. Esenberg

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Some scholars claim that current Establishment Clause doctrine can increasingly be explained in terms of substantive neutrality-that is, the idea that government ought to treat religion and irreligion (or comparable secular activities) in the same way. Whether a product of the Court's commitment to the idea or an artifact of the positions of the "swing" Justices, this proposition has considerable explanatory power. The Supreme Court has, in recent years, permitted the government to make financial support equally available for religious uses, as long as it is done on a neutral basis and through the private choice of the recipients. It …


Corruption Of Religion And The Establishment Clause, Andrew Koppelman May 2009

Corruption Of Religion And The Establishment Clause, Andrew Koppelman

William & Mary Law Review

Government neutrality toward religion is based on familiar considerations: the importance of avoiding religious conflict, alienation of religious minorities, and the danger that religious considerations will introduce a dangerous irrational dogmatism into politics and make democratic compromise more difficult. This Article explores one consideration, prominent at the time of the framing, that is often overlooked: the idea that religion can be corrupted by state involvement with it. This idea is friendly to religion but, precisely for that reason, is determined to keep the state away from religion. If the religion-protective argument for disestablishment is to be useful today, it cannot …


The Congressional Chaplaincies, Christopher C. Lund May 2009

The Congressional Chaplaincies, Christopher C. Lund

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Roughly twenty-five years ago, in Marsh v. Chambers, the Supreme Court considered the congressional chaplaincies, and concluded that they were not "an 'establishment' of religion or a step toward establishment," but instead were "simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country."' That latter phrase has been repeated hundreds of times in cases and law review articles; it suggests that the chaplaincies are uninteresting and uncontroversial and that they have been so throughout our history. The Court in Marsh looked only briefly at the history of the chaplaincies.2 A deeper look at that history reveals …


Losing Our Religion: Reevaluating The Section 501(C)(3) Exemption Of Religious Organizations That Discriminate, Nicholas A. Mirkay Mar 2009

Losing Our Religion: Reevaluating The Section 501(C)(3) Exemption Of Religious Organizations That Discriminate, Nicholas A. Mirkay

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Separationism To The Extreme: The Mt. Soledad Cross And The Ninth Circuit's Crusade To Burden The Free Exercise Clause, Cameron M. Rountree Mar 2009

Separationism To The Extreme: The Mt. Soledad Cross And The Ninth Circuit's Crusade To Burden The Free Exercise Clause, Cameron M. Rountree

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Possession Is Nine Tenths Of The Law: But Who Really Owns A Church's Property In The Wake Of A Religious Split Within A Hierarchical Church?, Meghaan Cecilia Mcelroy Oct 2008

Possession Is Nine Tenths Of The Law: But Who Really Owns A Church's Property In The Wake Of A Religious Split Within A Hierarchical Church?, Meghaan Cecilia Mcelroy

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.


Civil Procedure And The Establishment Clause: Exploring The Ministerial Exception, Subject-Matter Jurisdiction, And The Freedom Of The Church, Gregory A. Kalscheur Oct 2008

Civil Procedure And The Establishment Clause: Exploring The Ministerial Exception, Subject-Matter Jurisdiction, And The Freedom Of The Church, Gregory A. Kalscheur

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

What sort of defense is provided by the ministerial exception to employment discrimination claims? The ministerial exception bars civil courts from reviewing the decisions of religious organizations regarding the employment of their ministerial employees. While the exception itself is widely recognized by courts, there is confusion with respect to the proper characterization of the defense provided by the exception: should it be seen as a subject matter jurisdiction defense, or as a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the plaintiff's claim? This Article argues that articulating the right answer to this question of civil procedure is crucial to a proper …


Freedom To Err: The Idea Of Natural Selection In Politics, Schools, And Courts, Paul D. Carrington Oct 2008

Freedom To Err: The Idea Of Natural Selection In Politics, Schools, And Courts, Paul D. Carrington

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Religion At A Public University, Gerard V. Bradley May 2008

Religion At A Public University, Gerard V. Bradley

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.


Why Church And State Should Be Separate, Erwin Chemerinsky May 2008

Why Church And State Should Be Separate, Erwin Chemerinsky

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Cross At College: Accomodation And Acknowledgment Of Religion At Public Universities, Ira C. Lupu, Robert W. Tuttle Apr 2008

The Cross At College: Accomodation And Acknowledgment Of Religion At Public Universities, Ira C. Lupu, Robert W. Tuttle

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.


Intelligent Design In Public University Science Departments: Academic Freedom Or Establishment Of Religion, Frank S. Ravitch Apr 2008

Intelligent Design In Public University Science Departments: Academic Freedom Or Establishment Of Religion, Frank S. Ravitch

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.