Law Commons^™

The Legal Origins Of Catholic Conscientious Objection, Jeremy Kessler

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article traces the origins of Catholic conscientious objection as a theory and practice of American constitutionalism. It argues that Catholic conscientious objection emerged during the 1960s from a confluence of left-wing and right-wing Catholic efforts to participate in American democratic culture more fully. The refusal of the American government to allow legitimate Catholic conscientious objection to the Vietnam War became a cause célèbre for clerical and lay leaders and provided a blueprint for Catholic legal critiques of other forms of federal regulation in the late 1960s and early 1970s—most especially regulations concerning the provision of contraception and abortion.

Over …

Justice Jackson In The Jehovah’S Witnesses’ Cases, John Q. Barrett

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conscience, Coercion, And The Constitution: Some Thoughts, Dwight G. Duncan

University of Massachusetts Law Review

As a consequence, this article will argue that the most viable constitutional strategy for protecting conscientious objectors is to bracket the question of whether it is religiously motivated. Rather, it will focus simply on the question of whether it is a sincerely held moral conviction, while seeking to expand existing freedom of speech case law under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to maximize protection for people of conscience from being obliged to act contrary to their conscience.

Whistleblowing And Freedom Of Conscience: Towards A New Legal Analysis, Richard Haigh, Peter Bowal

Dalhousie Law Journal

"Whistleblowing" is the act or process of alerting others to scandal, danger, malpractice, corruption or other wrongdoing. In this article, the authors assert that a strongly developed freedom of conscience, distinct from freedom of religion. could contribute to the development of socially-valuable whistleblowing. While conscience is often treated as inseparable from religion, the authors suggest that the deliberate inclusion of "conscience" in s. 2(a) of the Charter implies that "conscience" ought to be recognized as an independent and robust freedom. This then provides the framework for accepting and recognizing the importance of whistleblowing and lessening its socialstigma. The article presents …

Standing, Spending, And Separation: How The No-Establishment Rule Does (And Does Not) Protect Conscience, Richard W. Garnett

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

What Does Religion Have To Do With Freedom Of Conscience?, Steven D. Smith

University of Colorado Law Review

Although the framers of the First Amendment chose to protect "the free exercise of religion" and deleted language about 'freedom of conscience, " a widely-held modern assumption maintains that constitutional protection should extend to conscience generally, not just to religious exercise. But is this extension defensible? This article considers three classic rationales for religious freedom-the "separate spheres" rationale, the 'futility" rationale, and the "higher duties" rationale-and asks whether they justify protection of non-religious conscience. The article concludes that all of the classic rationales are vulnerable to serious objections. However, a somewhat different rationale, which might be called the "personhood" rationale, …