Quotes & Sayings About Establishment Clause

The Court's majority holds that the Establishment Clause is no bar to Ohio's payment of tuition at private religious elementary and middle schools under a scheme that systematically provides tax money to support the schools' religious missions. — David Souter

The "establishment of religion" clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. — Hugo Black

A profession that we are a nation "under God" is identical, for Establishment Clause purposes, to a profession that we are a nation "under Jesus," a nation "under Vishnu," a nation "under Zeus," or a nation "under no god," because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion. — Alfred Goodwin

Pulling a crystalline, cogent rule out of the murk of the court's First Amendment, public forum, and Establishment Clause doctrine is an act of creation too complicated for mere mortals. — Dahlia Lithwick

The applicability of the Establishment Clause to public funding of benefits to religious schools was settled in Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing, which inaugurated the modern era of establishment doctrine. — David Souter

Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be 'perceived as favoring one religion over another,' the very 'risk the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The Establishment Clause prohibits government from making adherence to a religion relevant in any way to a person's standing in the political community. — Sandra Day O'Connor

The Establishment Clause ... stands as an expression of principle on the part of the Founders ... that religion is too personal, too sacred, too holy, to permit its 'unhallowed perversion' by a civil magistrate. — Hugo Black

The establishment clause was transformed from a shield for religion into a cover for the official sanctioning of religious tolerance. — Ralph E. Reed Jr.

It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine upon a mistaken understanding of Constitutional history ... The establishment clause has been expressly freighted with Jefferson's misleading metaphor for nearly forty years ... There is simply no historical foundation for the proposition that the framers intended to build a wall of separation ... The recent court decisions are in no way based on either the language or intent of the framers. — William Rehnquist

With respect to public acknowledgment of religious belief, it is entirely clear from our nation's historical practices that the Establishment Clause permits this disregard of polytheists and believers in unconcerned deities, just as it permits the disregard of devout atheists. — Antonin Scalia

The Free Exercise Clause at the very least was designed to guarantee freedom of conscience by prohibiting any degree of compulsion in matters of belief. It was offended by a burden on one's religion. The Establishment Clause can be understood as designed in part to ensure that the advancement of religion comes only from the voluntary efforts of its proponents and not from support by the state. Religious groups are to prosper or perish on the intrinsic merit and attraction of their beliefs and practices. — Harry A. Blackmun