Foreword
The First Amendment provides that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. …" This language, known as the Establishment Clause, is the basis of the U.S. Supreme Court’s separation of church and State decisions.Over the course of the last half-century, the Court has developed a number of tests to determine whether a specific government policy violates the Establishment Clause. It has set out a framework that attempts to balance an individual’s freedom of religious self-expression with the need for government neutrality on the issue.When considering church-State cases, courts must determine whether…
