Redefining the first freedom : the Supreme Court and the consolidation of state power
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Redefining the first freedom : the Supreme Court and the consolidation of state power
Transaction Publishers, c1993
Available at 13 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
For over two hundred years, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has prevented government from establishing an official religion and from supporting or inhibiting privately held religious beliefs. Nonetheless, agreement over the proper constitutional boundaries separating religion from the state remains elusive. In this timely book, Ivers demonstrates that recent trends emerging in the Supreme Court point toward a weakening of the constitutional protections extended to religious minorities and a widening breach in the wall separating church and state.In the last decade, Ronald Reagan, who openly expressed his contempt for the Court's religious clause decisions, appointed justices who shared his view that majorities should have greater control over questions involving the place of religion in public life. This pattern has been continued by George Bush's appointments to the Court. In rigorous and comprehensive terms, Ivers examines the profound changes hi the church-state jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. Rather than viewing law and politics hi mutually exclusive terms, the author explains how this Court's drastic departure from established precedent is not value-neutral as claimed but represents a carefully crafted political jurisprudence designed to advance the interests of majoritarian religion.In case after case, Professor Ivers illustrates that the Court has abandoned its role as a countermajoritarian institution, a posture that has had, and will continue to have, grave consequences for religious minorities not well positioned hi legislative bodies. Brilliantly argued and written hi a lucid accessible manner, Redefining the First Freedom will appeal to constitutional scholars, political scientists, and civil rights activists. It will Inject new vigor into the debate over the Court's role as guarantor of individual rights, the meaning of the First Amendment religion clauses, and the appropriate relationship between religion and government.
by "Nielsen BookData"