Reason's Hit and Run blog uses my photograph of a Freedom From Religion sign as it links to an article by Jacob Sullum about secularism and Christmas. How do I know it's my photograph of the sign? Look at my original 200…
He asked: Will Warren be invited to the solemn ceremony of inauguration without being asked to repudiate what he has directly said to deny salvation to Jews? Will he be giving a national invocation without disowning what his ment…
Strolling around the grounds of the Texas Capitol, I looked for the Ten Commandments monument, the one that was the subject of the Supreme Court case -- Van Orden -- two years ago. Here it is: Here's how Chief Justice Rehnqu…
So I put the finishing touches on my notes for a noon hour talk to the Dane County Bar Association and finished my preparation for my two hour 1:20 class and got in the car and drove over to the Monona Hilton where I drove down a…
Just reported: The Dover Area School Board violated the Constitution when it ordered that its biology curriculum must include "intelligent design," the notion that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intellige…
Today, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case about government displays of the Ten Commandments. Linda Greenhouse has a nicely detailed account in the NYT. She highlights Justice Scalia's role: Justice David H. So…
In my "Religion and the Constitution" class, I deliberately put Lynch v. Donelly and Allegheny v. ACLU last because they deal with Christmas decorations on public property. Lynch and Allegheny both involve creches (on…
A student cannot be forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but does a student also have a right to refuse to stand for the Pledge? In this case the student was "called to the principal's office and urged to stand du…
It's late and it's been a long day, the first day of summer Conlaw and the deadline –met!--for Spring semester grades, but let me get my final Newdow post in. I can see I got a nice Instapundit link for my multiple Newdo…
As noted below, the main opinion in Newdow does not address the Establishment Clause question. The three concurring opinions do, however, and all find the Pledge, with the "under God" language, constitutional. The thre…
Justice Stevens' opinion in Newdow contains a very interesting issue about the use of state law--family law--to determine the scope of standing to sue in federal court. Why should the states be able to determine the power of…
The Court has unanimously decided against the Michael Newdow, the atheist who got the 9th Circuit to hold that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violate the Establishment Clause. But the decision of the…
Separation of church and state prevails over the Free Exercise Clause in today's Supreme Court case, Locke v. Davey . And really, federalism won out over nationalizing rights, because this was a case where a state, in its ow…