Religious liberty in the Supreme Court

the long version

The simple language in which the First Amendment forbids Congress to make laws that "establish" religion or prohibit its free exercise has been anything but simple to apply. Since 1940, the Supreme Court has been called upon to decide many cases involving the religion clause - in such matters as prayer in public schools, unemployment compensation for persons whose religious scruples led to their unemployment, state aid to church-related schools, the display of Nativity scenes on city land, and tax exemption for property owned by religious organizations. Twenty-five of these cases are brought together here, introduced, excerpted, and annotated by Terry Eastland. With fifteen of the cases there is also a sampling of contemporaneous editorial comment, from such sources as the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Christian Century, and The New Republic. In Part Two, three legal scholars - Mary Ann Glendon, Michael J. Sandel, and Michael W. McConnell - comment on trends in the Court's religion-clause jurisprudence and their implications for our public life.