Law Commons^™

By Its Fruits Shall Ye Know; Axson-Flynn V. Johnson: More Rotted Fruit From Employment Division V. Smith, Bradley C. Johnson

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division v. Smith has been widely criticized for decimating the Free Exercise Clause and leaving free exercise rights vulnerable. Critics maintained that the Supreme Court's decision in Smith to shift protection of free exercise rights to primarily the political process would have devastating consequences for religious individuals. In Axson-Flynn v. Johnson, decided fifteen years after Smith, one of those consequences has become clear: a state university can constitutionally require an individual to swear as part of an acting program, even if swearing violates that individual's deeply held religious beliefs. This result of …

Context Is In The Eye Of The Beholder: Establishment Clause Violations And The More-Than-Reasonable Person, Kirsten K. Wendela

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Establishment Clause prohibits any law "respecting an establishment of religion." One example of a potential Establishment Clause violation is a display of the Ten Commandments on governmental property. The Supreme Court is on the brink of deciding whether such a display violates the Establishment Clause, and one important question to ask when making this determination is whether a reasonable observer would view a Ten Commandments display as a governmental endorsement of religion. The answer to this question will change based on the definition of the reasonable observer.

In Freethought Society v. Chester County, the Third Circuit Court of …