Constitutional Law Archives - Page 3 of 7

“Under the Protection of God: Does the Preamble of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 Allow Freedom of Expression solely for Christians?” by Damião Benilson Gomes de Melo, Rafaela Albuquerque Fires & J. Ernesto Pimentel Filho

Sep 8, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAlbuquerque, Rafaela, Christianity, Constitutional Law, Latin America (Geography), Melo, Benilson, Pimentel Filho, J. Ernesto, September 2023

Picture of the Supremo Tribunal Federal in Brazil by Dennis W. Asfour (CC BY-SA 4.0). In Brazil, the constitutional preamble of the 1988 Federal Constitution contains the expression “under the protection of God,” which has sparked debates for many years regarding its legally binding relevance. A landmark decision (the ADI 2076) even addressed whether the…

“Faith in Interpretation” by Aaron J. Walayat

Aug 15, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2023, Christianity, Constitutional Law, Philosophy, Walayat, Aaron J.

Abraham and the Angels by Andries Snellinck (PD-US). What is the relationship between faith and constitutional interpretation? Superficially understood, this could refer to popular polemic of taking the specific religious faiths (religious affiliations) of Supreme Court justices, reducing these affiliations to political opinions, and construing these observations with the justice’s interpretive ideology. More esoterically, “faith”…

“‘Luminous and Obscure’: Into the Depths of Constitutional Meaning” by Perry Dane

Aug 11, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2023, Constitutional Law, Dane, Perry, Philosophy

James West investigating the Constitution. From NASA (PD-US). Let’s explore an out of the ordinary way of thinking about the relation between religion and accounts of constitutional interpretation. In a recent article, I argued against the theory of “original public meaning” in constitutional and other legal interpretation, pointing to a “distinct, deadly, bit of intractable…

“Johnson v. M’Intosh and the Missing Cover of the Jigsaw Puzzle” by Steven Newcomb

Apr 13, 2023Canopy ForumSeriesApril 2023, Constitutional Law, History, Indigenous Religious Traditions, Newcomb, Steven T.

“A Close Up View of a Puzzle Piece” by Pierre Bamin (Unsplash license). This article is part of our “200 Years of Johnson v. M’Intosh: Law, Religion, and Native American Lands” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. The Jig Saw Puzzle February 28, 2023 marked 200 years since Chief Justice John…

“Johnson v. M’Intosh, Plenary Power, and Our Colonial Constitution” by Alexandra Fay

Mar 29, 2023Canopy ForumSeriesAlexandra Fay, Constitutional Law, Federal Indian Law, History, Indigenous Religious Traditions, March 2023

“Wife and Child of Bull Plume” by Kathryn Woodman Leighton (Wikimedia PD-US) This article is part of our “200 Years of Johnson v. M’Intosh: Law, Religion, and Native American Lands” series. If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. In Johnson v. M’Intosh, Chief Justice John Marshall articulated the doctrine of discovery as…

“Sovereigns, Exceptions, and ‘Shadow Dockets’: Law, Religion, and States of Emergency” by M. Christian Green

Dec 14, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysChristianity, Constitutional Law, December 2022, Green, M. Christian, Healthcare, History, Politics, US Supreme Court (SCOTUS)

Picture by Adam Kring on Unsplash. “Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.”Carl Schmitt, Political Theology (1921) “By nonetheless granting relief, the Court goes astray. . . . That renders the Court’s emergency docket not for emergencies at all.”Justice Elena Kagan, Louisiana v. American Rivers (2022) Hitler’s Lawyer About a decade ago, the name…

The Potential Religious Context of The Fourth Amendment by Peter Wosnik

Nov 14, 2022Canopy ForumConvictionChristianity, Constitutional Law, History, November 2022, Wosnik, Peter

Image adapted from Wikicommons by DhLeaks44 / CC BY-SA 4.0 “The Potential Religious Context of The Fourth Amendment” Peter Wosnik James Madison first introduced the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to Congress in 1789. Since that time, the Fourth Amendment has become a bedrock in criminal procedure in American constitutional law. Thousands of state and federal cases…

The Bible and the Constitution: Of Monkeys, Babies and Original Intent by Larry W. Caldwell

Oct 5, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysCaldwell, Larry W., Christianity, Constitutional Law, October 2022, Politics

In 1925, on Day 7 of the infamous “Scopes Monkey Trial” (The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes), defense attorney Clarence Darrow interrogated prosecuting attorney William Jennings Bryan on the witness stand. His purpose was to discredit Bryan’s (and many Protestants’) view that the original author of Genesis understood the six days of creation…

“Kennedy v. Bremerton: The Wall Separating Church and State Just Got a Little Shorter” by Brett A. Geier

Aug 15, 2022Canopy ForumSeriesAugust 2022, Christianity, Constitutional Law, Geier, Brett, Politics

Picture by Ted Eytan (CC BY-SA 2.0) 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. Kennedy v. Bremerton was heard by the Supreme Court in 2022. But the case truly began in…

“Dobbs Is Not a Religion Case” by Bruce Ledewitz

Aug 1, 2022Canopy ForumSeriesAugust 2022, Constitutional Law, Healthcare, Ledewitz, Bruce, Politics, US Supreme Court (SCOTUS)

Picture by Claire Anderson on Unsplash. 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. I was unhappy, but not surprised, to see Canopy Forum including Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case…