Religious Expression on State Property
Recent Supreme Court Action
The religion clauses of the First Amendment provide that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …" Prior to the past two and a half decades, the Supreme Court frequently construed these clauses to create, in Thomas Jefferson’s oft-quoted metaphor, a "wall of separation between church and State." However, many of the Court’s decisions precipitated substantial public discontent and spawned organized efforts to overturn or otherwise alter its decisions. Particularly since Ronald Reagan was elected to the presidency in 1980, those efforts have been increasingly successful. That election has proven to…
