TUDENTS of the Supreme Court of the United States often view it through &dquo;eras.&dquo; Some are named after Presidents whose appointments molded the identity of the Court (e.g., the &dquo;Roosevelt Court&dquo;); others are defined by dominant judicial personalities (e.g., the &dquo;Marshall Court&dquo;). These labels reflect our perception of the fulcrum of influence on the Court. When Warren Burger replaced Earl Warren, speculation arose about a pending shift in judicial eras. Yet, upon Burger’s retirement the consensus was that he left &dquo;a Supreme Court that in terms of judicial doctrine has not been notably different from the one he inherited.&dquo;

Separation of Church and State: The Burger Court's Tortuous Journey

Leadership on the Supreme Court of the United States: Chief Justice Burger and the Establishment Clause:

In 1984, Richard John Neuhaus's book, The Naked Public Square, initiated a proliferation of publications addressing the role of religion in public life. Many of these echoed Neuhaus's concern that a strict adherence to the separation of church and state, particularly by the U.S. Supreme Court, has marginalized religious voices to the detriment of American culture. Consequently, the separationist position is now widely understood to mean that, as the following quote from a text on religion and politics illustrates, religion is to be kept out of public life.The separationist position believes that religion should be kept in the private realm. It tends to emphasize the problems involved in the absolute nature of religion's claims over and against the compromises required for democratic life. Thus religious claims tend to divide the culture, rather than to unite it, which makes religion a potentially dangerous element in public life, and it should be kept in the private realm.

Religion in Public Life: The “Pfefferian Inversion” Reconsidered

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Separation of Church and State: The Burger Court's Tortuous Journey

Citations

Leadership on the Supreme Court of the United States: Chief Justice Burger and the Establishment Clause:

Religion in Public Life: The “Pfefferian Inversion” Reconsidered

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