"If H.B. 71 goes into effect, Students will be subjected to unwelcome displays of the Ten Commandments for the entirety of their public school education. There is no opt-out option," the court's opinion reads.
Critics say the curriculum borders on outright proselytization.
The law "is not neutral toward religion," wrote Judge John W. deGravelles, who ruled that the law was "facially unconstitutional."
The good news is that schools won't be forced to stock Trump-endorsed Bibles. The bad news is that they're still being forced to supply Bibles.
Justice Breyer thought the Establishment Clause authorizes judges to improve the tone of political discourse. It does not.
Justice Breyer saw church-state controversies as highly and inevitably fact-bound, solvable only through a judicial balancing exercise.
A lesson in how to ensure you lose a case in court.
Justice Breyer did not always vote with the Court’s strict-separationist justices. Good for him.
Even without writing majority opinions, his contributions were important.
A 6–3 majority sees it as noncoercive and not a violation of the Establishment Clause.
The justices unanimously agree that the city was not endorsing the flags, and that therefore it couldn’t exclude religious organizations.
The Supreme Court will soon decide a case that tests the limits of expression on government property and religious toleration.
at least when they specifically target religious institutions, and not similar secular entities.
The alternatives suggested by defenders of the monument do not seem much better.
"What lower courts and local governments desperately need is not guidance on hypothetical cases that have never arisen. They need guidance on the many cases they're wrestling with today. Lemon doesn't provide that guidance. It makes the problem worse."
The challenge to a World War I memorial in Maryland illustrates the confusion caused by the Supreme Court's Establishment Clause cases.
An analysis of the amicus briefs in the Establishment Clause / cross monument case, from Eric Rassbach at the Becket Fund.
The Fourth Circuit rejects a challenge to a history class being shown a slide stating "Most [Muslims'] faith is stronger than the average [Christian's]," and being required to fill in the blanks in "There is no god but __ and Muhammad is the __ of Allah," as part of a worksheet on the "Five Pillars" of Islam.
The brief, which I coauthored on behalf of myself and six other legal scholars explains why the Bill of Rights constrains federal power over immigration no less than other types of federal power.
