Law Commons^™

Social Reproduction And Religious Reproduction: A Democratic-Communitarian Analysis Of The Yoder Problem, Josh Chafetz

ExpressO

In 1972, Wisconsin v. Yoder presented the Supreme Court with a sharp clash between the state's interest in social reproduction through education -- that is, society's interest in using the educational system to perpetuate its collective way of life among the next generation -- and the parents' interest in religious reproduction -- that is, their interest in passing their religious beliefs on to their children. This Article will take up the challenge of that clash, a clash which continues to be central to current debates over issues like intelligent design in the classroom. This Article engages with the competing theories …

The Equal Protection Of Free Exercise: Two Approaches And Their History, Bernadette Meyler

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Contrary to critics of the Supreme Court's current equal protection approach to religious liberty, this Article contends that, from the very first federal free exercise cases, the Equal Protection and Free Exercise Clauses have been mutually intertwined. The seeds of an equal protection analysis of free exercise were, indeed, planted even before the Fourteenth Amendment within the constitutional jurisprudence of the several states. Furthermore, this Article argues, equal protection approaches should not be uniformly disparaged. Rather, the drawbacks that commentators have observed result largely from the Supreme Court's application of an inadequate version of equal protection. By ignoring the lessons …

Living By The Sword: The Free Exercise Of Religion And The Sikh Struggle For The Right To Carry A Kirpan, Rishi S. Bagga

ExpressO

Sikhism is a 500 year old religion with a growing presence in the United States. However, one of the articles of faith required for Sikhs, a kirpan (a ceremonial sword), conflicts with the norms of American life for these often misunderstood people. This paper gives a brief primer on Sikhism and discusses some of the day-to-day problems and recent issues facing kirpan-carrying Sikhs in North America. Upon reviewing the current state of free exercise jurisprudence as applied to the kirpan, I outline several suggestions for the acceptance and accommodation of kirpans.

On Boy Scouts And Anti-Discrimination Law: The Associational Rights Of Quasi-Religious Organizations, Erez Reuveni

Erez Reuveni

This paper proposes a tripartite legal approach to analyzing the rights of private, expressive associations. Current law views private associations through a binary lens - either an organization is "religious," or it is "secular." But this dichotomy fails to account for organizations whose animating expressive purpose is both religious and secular. Using the Boy Scouts of America as a case study, this paper develops a third category of private associations, quasi-religious groups, and articulates why the category is necessary and how quasi-religious groups would fit within existing First Amendment jurisprudence. First, the article reviews numerous cases involving the Boy Scouts …

No More Deaths: On Conscience, Civil Disobedience, And A New Role For Truth Commissions, Marie Failinger

Faculty Scholarship

This article uses as its focal point the emerging civil disobedience movement in southwestern United States, aimed at providing humanitarian assistance to undocumented workers crossing the U.S. border, and the government's prosecution response to that movement. It argues that the courts that have considered such civil disobedience in previous cases, such as the 1980s Sanctuary movement, have a limited understanding of the right of conscience, and utilizes the insights of Reformation theology on the nature of the conscience to argue that it is necessary for the United States to respect the public role of conscience of civil disobedients in mass …

Does Cutter V. Wilkinson Change The Analysis Of Mandated Dui Treatment Programs?: A Critical Response, Eric L. Sherbine

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

No abstract provided.

Recoiling From Religion, Marc O. Degirolami

Faculty Publications

This is an essay reviewing Professor Marci A. Hamilton's book, GOD VS. THE GAVEL: RELIGION AND THE RULE OF LAW (Cambridge Univ. Press 2005).

Professor Marci Hamilton has written a forceful and obviously heartfelt book that should give pause to committed champions of religious free exercise. She argues convincingly that religious freedom is too often invoked to shield opprobrious and socially harmful activity, and she describes numerous examples of such abuses that make any civilized person's blood run cold. Her avowed aims are to debunk the “hazardous myth” that religion is “inherently and always good for society” and to increase …