Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law
Toward A Rfra That Works, Nicholas Nugent
Toward A Rfra That Works, Nicholas Nugent
Vanderbilt Law Review
The history of the Supreme Court's First Amendment jurisprudence regarding the proper standard of protection for the free exercise of religion is complicated. In determining how the First Amendment speaks to situations in which generally applicable health, welfare, and safety laws incidentally or accidentally burden certain individuals' religious practices, the Court has vacillated between different standards and different extremes, overruling itself several times. Early on, the Court held that, provided the government did not interfere deliberately with religion for religious reasons, an inadvertent interference with religious practice raised no Free xercise Clause problem,' "no matter how trivial the state's nonreligious …
Chief Justice Waite And The "Twin Relic": Reynolds V. United States, C. Peter Magrath
Chief Justice Waite And The "Twin Relic": Reynolds V. United States, C. Peter Magrath
Vanderbilt Law Review
In the landmark case of Reynolds v. United States, the United States Supreme Court held that a general law prohibiting polygamy did not abridge the religious freedom of members of the Mormon faith guaranteed by the first amendment. The author here explores the background of Chief Justice Waite's opinion in Reynolds v. United States: the tenets and development of the Mormon faith in the United States, the character of the Waite Court, and the sources and development of Chief Justice Waite's opinion in the case.