This article is part of our “Kennedy, Carson, and Dobbs: Law and Religion in Pressing Supreme Court Cases” series. If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. Notwithstanding the fears of the Supreme Court’s critics, who suggest that it intends to eliminate public education by providing direct funding to faith-based schools…
On Monday, May 2, 2022, an unknown person or persons leaked Justice Alito’s draft opinion for Dobbs v. Mississippi Department of Health, an opinion which would overrule Roe v. Wade. Roe, as is widely known, enshrines a putative constitutional right to abortion and is largely buttressed by Planned Parenthood v Casey. Chief Justice Roberts acknowledged…
This article is part of our “Russia/Ukraine: Law and Religion Perspectives” series. If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. “There is no such thing as a just war: they do not exist!” In a speech at the Vatican Apostolic Palace on March 18, 2022, Pope Francis declared “war is…
One of the most contentious issues in constitutional law is whether governmental action amounts to “an establishment of religion” in violation of the First Amendment. For the past fifty years, the Court has often, but not always, resolved Establishment Clause cases using the three-pronged test established by Lemon v. Kurtzman. Under the Lemon test, a court must ask…
Historical Context A timely, significant topic of discussion worth remembering, stretching back to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy’s battle against anti-Catholic prejudice, is the relationship between politicians and their faith leaders. This relationship, particularly involving politicians who are Roman Catholic, is the focus of this article. In his September 12, 1960, campaign speech in Texas…
This article is part of our “Law and Religion Under Pressure: A One-Year Pandemic Retrospective” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. “Even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten.” — Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 141 S. Ct. 63, 68 (2020) One can only…
Since time immemorial, whether as evidenced by the cave paintings from prehistoric France, the polytheistic religions of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, or the animistic belief systems and totems erected in much of the rest of the pre-Judeo-Christian, non-Western world, humans all over the globe have recognized the need to call on a higher being…
On October 3, 2020, Pope Francis took the unusual step of traveling to the birthplace, home, and tomb of his namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi, to sign his third encyclical, or papal pastoral letter, Fratelli tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship, after celebrating Mass in the crypt of the lower basilica. The first time that…
In his dissent in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, wherein the Supreme Court invalidated student-led prayer prior to the start of high school football games, a dismayed Chief Justice William Rehnquist expressed the sentiment of many Americans, that “[t]he Court … bristles with hostility to all things religious in public life.”In light of…
Amid efforts to reduce, if not eliminate, the spread of COVID-19, researchers are working on a vaccine to prevent future infections At the same time, given the fears of some parents that states are overriding their rights to opt out of having their children vaccinated, a looming COVID vaccination issue between the competing interests of…