Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Important Supreme Court Religion Clause case
In the Cutter case, the Justices unanimously (!!) upheld the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, rejecting the claim that the Act -- by mandating a more religion-friendly standard in accommodation-of-religion cases arising in prisons -- violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. Justice Ginsburg wrote the opinion for the Court, and emphasized -- correctly -- that the government may accommodate religion, even when such accommodation is not required by the Free Exercise Clause, without violating the no-establishment rule.
Justice Thomas's separate concurrence is particularly interesting, since he re-presents, and elaborates upon, his view that the Establishment Clause was primarily a "federalism" provision.
Rick
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2005/05/important_supre.html