IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlawss/v11y2022i5p74-d930550.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Questioning Strict Separationism in Unsettled Times: Rethinking the Strict Separation of Church and State in United States Constitutional Law

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph G. Prud’homme

    (Department of Political Science and Director, Institute for Religion, Politics, and Culture, Washington College, Chestertown, MD 21620, USA)

Abstract

Contemporary case law in the United States surrounding the establishment clause of the federal Constitution has entered a period of remarkable uncertainty. Now is an appropriate time to revisit the legal foundations of the Supreme Court’s seminal cases of Everson v. Board of Education (1947) and McCollum v. Board of Education (1948). These cases initiated the Court’s strict separationist construction of the establishment clause. In response to critics who see these cases as without judicial warrant, I argue that the holdings rest on a particular form of substantive due process. Further, I defend the methodology the Court deploys in these cases. Recognizing the legal foundations of Everson and McCollum and the tenability of the method the Court deploys in these cases improves our understanding of important Supreme Court case law. However, it also highlights new lines of critique of the Court’s strict separationist jurisprudence—a conclusion especially relevant today, given the Court’s willingness to revise long-standing precedents.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph G. Prud’homme, 2022. "Questioning Strict Separationism in Unsettled Times: Rethinking the Strict Separation of Church and State in United States Constitutional Law," Laws, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-26, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:74-:d:930550
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/11/5/74/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/11/5/74/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Goldenziel, Jill Iris, 2005. "Blaine's Name in Vain?: State Constitutions, School Choice, & Charitable Choice," Scholarly Articles 29429749, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:74-:d:930550. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.