The 60th Anniversary of the Everson Decision and America's Church-State Proposition
On February 10, 1947, the United States Supreme Court handed down Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township. For scholars of the First Amendment, Everson marks the beginning of the Supreme Court's modern era with respect to church-state relations. It is easy enough to state the reason for...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
2007
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| In: |
Journal of law and religion
Year: 2007, Volume: 23, Issue: 1, Pages: 15-41 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | On February 10, 1947, the United States Supreme Court handed down Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township. For scholars of the First Amendment, Everson marks the beginning of the Supreme Court's modern era with respect to church-state relations. It is easy enough to state the reason for the decision's prominence, for it was in Everson where the Establishment Clause was first "incorporated" through the Fourteenth Amendment and made applicable to the actions of all state and local governments. But just what did it mean to take the restraints on federal power that comprise the principle of no-establishment and to make them limits on the governments of the several states, as well as on the thousands of municipalities, counties, and school districts that dot the land? In Part II of these remarks, I will focus on what has occurred downstream of Everson over these event-filled sixty years. As the reader will see, I am of the belief that Everson's new deal has resulted in more good than harm for religious freedom. Still the record is mixed, as it is with most major developments. However, before going there, in Part I of this extended essay, I look back in time to recapture just what was in the bundle of restraints that all nine of the Justices in Everson said they were bringing forward via the Fourteenth Amendment and making newly binding on the many unsuspecting state and local officials. |
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| ISSN: | 2163-3088 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of law and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0748081400002587 |