Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Law

Could Government Speech Endorsing A Higher Law Resolve The Establishment Clause Crisis?, Bruce Ledewitz Jun 2009

Could Government Speech Endorsing A Higher Law Resolve The Establishment Clause Crisis?, Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz

The crisis in Establishment Clause interpretation consists in the Supreme Court’s unwillingness to enforce the promise of government neutrality toward religion made in Everson in 1947 and its inability to offer an alternative interpretation that would gain majority support among the Justices and the American people. The crisis is symbolized by the Court’s reversal on standing grounds of the Ninth Circuit’s judgment that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance violate the Establishment Clause, thus “ducking” the case and the principle involved. The government speech doctrine would redeem Everson’s promise of neutrality without imposing a purely secular public …


Selling The Government Property Beneath A Religious Monument That Violates The Establishment Clause: Constitutional Remedy Or Infringement?, Jonathan R. Slabaugh Jan 2009

Selling The Government Property Beneath A Religious Monument That Violates The Establishment Clause: Constitutional Remedy Or Infringement?, Jonathan R. Slabaugh

Saint Louis University Public Law Review

No abstract provided.


Establishment And Exclusion: Why The Protection Of The First Amendment’S Establishment Clause Should Be Applied To Adults, Daren C. Rich Jan 2009

Establishment And Exclusion: Why The Protection Of The First Amendment’S Establishment Clause Should Be Applied To Adults, Daren C. Rich

Saint Louis University Public Law Review

No abstract provided.


Religious Establishment And Autonomy, Andrew Koppelman Jan 2009

Religious Establishment And Autonomy, Andrew Koppelman

Faculty Working Papers

Kent Greenawalt claims that one rationale for nonestablishment of religion is personal autonomy. If, however, the law is barred from manipulating people in religious directions (and thus violating their autonomy), while it remains free to manipulate them in nonreligious directions (and thus violate their autonomy in exactly the same way), autonomy as such is not what is being protected. The most promising alternative is to understand religion as a distinctive human good that is being protected from government interference.


Of Historiography And Constitutional Principle: Jefferson’S Letter To The Danbury Baptists, Ian C. Bartrum Jan 2009

Of Historiography And Constitutional Principle: Jefferson’S Letter To The Danbury Baptists, Ian C. Bartrum

Scholarly Works

This article examines the ways that the Supreme Court has used Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists (a wall of separation between church and state) as a rhetorical symbol. It finds the letter at the heart of the Court's debate over competing theories of religious neutrality. The article then explores the treatment the letter has received in several leading academic histories, and concludes that professional historians have largely tailored their arguments to match the Supreme Court's ideological divide. The article concludes that, because the goals of historical argument and legal argument are fundamentally different, this incestuous kind of relationship …