Steven D. Smith

The Court has declined to review Arlene’s Flowers despite hopes that the Trump-appointed justices would spur the Court to take on lingering First-Amendment questions. Continue Reading »

In his State of the Union address and elsewhere, President Trump has emphasized the importance of prayer in public schools. In one speech he promised “big action” on the matter. But just what action he is contemplating remains obscure. Teacher-led prayer to open the school day? Football players . . . . Continue Reading »

The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America by Richard John Neuhaus Eerdmans, 292 pages, $28 When you revisit an important book after the passage of years, you can’t be sure what you will find. The book may be even better than you remembered. Or it may not quite live up to . . . . Continue Reading »

Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality by Martha Nussbaum Basic Books, 320 pages, $27.50 Martha Nussbaum’s Liberty of Conscience is a blend mixed from approximately equal portions of John Rawls, Sandra Day O’Connor, and the pack of recent . . . . Continue Reading »

These days, if you announce that the Supreme Court is doing politics rather than law you will provoke more yawns than protests. But what sort of politics is the Court doing? Justice Antonin Scalia frequently charges the Court with stepping out of its judicial role and taking sides in the culture . . . . Continue Reading »

The Warren Court and American Politics by Lucas A. Powe, Jr. Harvard University Press. 566 pp. $35 Brennan and Democracy by Frank I. Michelman Princeton University Press. 148 pp. $24.95 The Rehnquist Court and the Constitution by Tinsley E. Yarbrough. Oxford University Press. 306 pp. $35 In the . . . . Continue Reading »

There’s an old and famous story about a community of people who live in a cave. Fires burn behind them, throwing shadows of various shapes onto the cave wall; and never having seen real objects in the sunlight, the cave people think these shadows are the only and most complete reality. One day, . . . . Continue Reading »

John Witte’s book on religious freedom is a work of impressive erudition and formidable complacency. Witte capably surveys the historical developments preceding the First Amendment and supplies a helpful overview of the often neglected period from the adoption of that amendment through the 1940s, . . . . Continue Reading »

These are the times, as recent issues of this journal reflect, for reassessing our constitutional tradition, and current constitutional decisions and discussions are a good place to start. But a perceptive observer will immediately notice a puzzling, almost schizophrenic quality in modern . . . . Continue Reading »