Religion Law Commons^™

Mysterizing Religion, Marc O. Degirolami

Scholarly Articles

In this short essay, I suggest that "mysterizing" religion may change the stakes in some of the most controversial contemporary conflicts in law and religion. To mysterize (not a neologism, but an archaism) is to cultivate mystery about a subject, in the sense described above-to develop and press the view that a certain subject or phenom-enon is not merely unknown, but unknowable by human beings. At the very least, such mysteries are unknowable by those human beings who have charge of the secular legal order of earthly human affairs, Paul's "princes of this world." That is what I propose to …

Constitutional Anomalies Or As-Applied Challenges? A Defense Of Religious Exemptions, Mark L. Rienzi

Scholarly Articles

In the wake of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and now in anticipation of Craig v. Masterpiece Cakeshop, Inc., the notion that religious exemptions are dangerously out of step with norms of Constitutional jurisprudence has taken on a renewed popularity. Critics increasingly claim that religious exemptions, such as those available prior to Employment Division v. Smith and now available under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), are a threat to basic fairness, equality, and the rule of law. Under this view, exemptions create an anomalous private right to ignore laws that everyone else must obey, and such a scheme …

Two Aspects Of Liberty, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

Liberty in the constitutional sense is always a right against state interference (a “freedom from”). The First Amendment begins by saying that “Congress shall make no law”; it forbids Congress to license or fine or jail people for speaking, or publishing, or assembling. Liberty is also, always, a right to do something (a “freedom to”): to speak, to assemble, to practice religion, to get married, etc. So “freedom from” and “freedom to” are always parts of the same idea, just as “flying from” and “flying to” are aspects of the same airplane trip. Freedom is always the right to do …

Unequal Treatment Of Religious Exercises Under Rfra: Explaining The Outliers In The Hhs Mandate Cases, Mark L. Rienzi

Scholarly Articles

Ongoing conflict over the contraceptive mandate promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") has resulted in more than two dozen lawsuits by profit-making businesses and their owners seeking protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA"). To date, the businesses and their owners are winning handily, having obtained preliminary relief in seventeen of the cases, and being denied relief in only six. Last month, in fact, a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals took the extraordinary step of reconsidering and reversing its own prior ruling and granting a preliminary injunction to a business seeking RFRA's …

God And The Profits: Is There Religious Liberty For Money-Makers?, Mark L. Rienzi

Scholarly Articles

Is there a religious way to pump gas, sell groceries, or advertise for a craft store? Litigation over the HHS contraceptive mandate has raised the question whether a for-profit business and its owner can engage in religious exercise under federal law. The federal government has argued, and some courts have found, that the activities of a profit-making business are ineligible for religious freedom protection.

This article offers a comprehensive look at the relationship between profit-making and religious liberty, arguing that the act of earning money does not preclude profit-making businesses and their owners from engaging in protected religious exercise.

Many …

Neutral No More: Secondary Effects Analysis And The Quiet Demise Of The Content-Neutrality Test, Mark L. Rienzi

Scholarly Articles

When the Supreme Court introduced the “secondary effects” doctrine to allow for zoning of adult businesses, critics fell into two camps. Some, like Justice Brennan, predicted dire consequences for the First Amendment, particularly if the doctrine were used in political speech cases. Others, like Professor Laurence Tribe, predicted secondary effects analysis would be limited to sexually explicit speech, and would not threaten the First Amendment. The modern consensus is that the doctrine has, in fact, been limited to cases about sex.

Recent cases demonstrate, however, that the impact of the secondary effects doctrine on the First Amendment has been broader …

Family Law's Challenge To Religious Liberty, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

This Article argues that challenges made to family law structures have provoked a significant reaction from persons and religious organizations advocating a distinctive worldview based on religious and historical values. Additionally, as family law changes from being a product of a religioushistorical worldview to being a product of private-ordering, the religious liberty of worldview adherents has been challenged. The struggle is apparent in the debates during the 2012 presidential election and is evidenced in government mandates that include, among other requirements, that employersincluding religious organizations-provide insurance coverage for employees that include contraception. Although many aspects of family law have been …

Emerging Trends In Religious Liberty, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

From a religious liberty perspective, the October 2000 term of the United States Supreme Court was relatively uneventful. The Court decided only one case raising significant religious liberty concerns, Good News Club v. Milford Central School. Good News Club adds little to the First Amendment case law already on the books, but it does provide an excellent opportunity to highlight the growing need for well-informed scholars, both American and foreign, to examine the relationships between and among clauses of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Religious Liberty And The Politics Of Judicial Review, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Real Reason For Religious Freedom, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The Architecture Of The Establishment Clause, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

All Things Being Equal, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

I will discuss the effect that the proposed Religious Equality Amendment might have on existing First Amendment law.

An Anti-Liberal Argument For Religious Freedom, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

I want to consider why we protect freedom of religion as a constitutional right. The commonsense answer, which I think hits close to the truth, is that we protect it because religion is important. I will try to show that this answer is better than the alternatives which liberal theory offers.

Developments In Liability Theories And Defenses, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

Litigators with experience in the field of religious liberty believe that courts do not seem to take religious liberty claims and defenses very seriously; however, it is difficult to know why. To be sure, the anecdotal evidence is certainly there, not only in the reported cases, but also in the actual courtroom experiences of those who attempt to raise religious liberty claims and defenses. In one Texas tort case, a trial court judge stated that she would not permit the Church "to hide behind the first amendment;" in a Maryland case a number of years ago, I was asked by …

The Structure Of The Religious Liberty Guarantee, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Churches And The Free Exercise Of Religion, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

The first amendment says that "Congress shall make no law . . . prohibiting the free exercise" of religion. This rule is most often used to protect individuals (religious speakers, pacifists, people claiming public benefits). This is hardly surprising. We naturally think that free exercise is an individual right, as we think that religion is a personal and private affair. I want to dispute (more modestly, to qualify) that view. I will argue that we should (sometimes) see the freedom of religion as a group right, which can conflict with, and take precedence over, individual rights.

Free Exercise And The Values Of Religious Liberty, John H. Garvey

Scholarly Articles

One thing that has always bothered me about free exercise jurisprudence is that it rests on values we have seldom tried to state, much less justify. In a way this is not surprising. We have only recently abandoned the assumption, which may never have been true, that Americans share a common understanding of language about God and transcendent values. That understanding made it unnecessary to define for nonspeakers a meaning that even believers have trouble putting into words. But today we are probably not "a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being-at least not if "religious" is supposed to …