In theory, the Supreme Court is where Americans turn to protect their rights when all else fails. The high court is supposed to be beyond the reach of politics, and more importantly, beyond the reach of popular will. After all, just because many Americans want something doesn’t mean it’s constitutional.
This
is true especially in matters of religion. Despite what many Americans
believe, the majority does not rule when it comes to religion. Core
freedoms depend on no vote. Most people in your town may sincerely
believe that compelling students to say Christian prayers or learn
creationism in public schools is a desirable – but that doesn’t make it
legal.
In the main, the Supreme Court has
done a pretty good job of upholding the separation of church and state.
The high court has put the brakes on mandatory religious worship in
public schools and barred direct tax support of sectarian enterprises.
But
the court has made a few missteps along the way. That’s inevitable
because as much as we’d like to think that the court is not a political
institution, presidents do use the power of appointment to shape the
bench, beyond their own terms in office.
Here are five cases where the Supreme Court dropped the ball on separation of church and state.
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