Foreordained Failure - The Quest for a Constitutional Principle of Religious Freedom

Zusatztext Smith's historical argument is powerfully presented. Informationen zum Autor Steven D. Smith is Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. He has taught and published extensively on legal subjects, including constitutional law and jurisprudence. Klappentext Ever since the Supreme Court began enforcing the First Amendment's religion clauses in the 1940s, courts and scholars have tried to distill the meaning of those clauses into a useable principle of religious freedom. In this highly original work, Smith criticizes the main positions in the debate and explains their misconceptions. He argues that efforts to find a principle of religious freedom in the "original meaning" are fruitless because the clauses were purely jurisdictional in nature: they were meant to place authority over questions of religion with the states, and nothing more. Contending that the perennial quest to distill religious freedom into a "principle," is futile, Smith advocates a fundamental reassessment of the premises upon which courts have proceeded in this area. Zusammenfassung Ever since the Supreme Court began enforcing the First Amendment's religion clauses in the 1940s, courts and scholars have tried to distil the meaning of those clauses into a usable principle of religious freedom. In this highly original work, Smith criticizes the main positions in the debate and explains their misconceptions. He argues that efforts to find a principle of religious freedom in the "original meaning" are fruitless because the clauses were purely jurisdictional in nature: they were meant to place authority over questions of religion with the states, and nothing more. Contending that the perennial quest to distill religious freedom into a "principle," is futile, Smith advocates a fundamental reassessment of the premises upon which courts have proceeded in this area.

Product details

• Authors: Smith, Steven D. Smith, Steven D. (Robert and Marion Short Professo Smith, Steven D. (Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law Smith
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.07.1999
• EAN: 9780195132489
• ISBN: 978-0-19-513248-9
• No. of pages: 186
• Series: Quest for a Constitutional Pri
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > General, dictionaries; Social sciences, law, business > Law > Miscellaneous; USA, England, Wales, RELIGION / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Policy, LAW / Constitutional, Religion: general, United States of America, USA, Social Law, Constitutional & administrative law, Constitutional and administrative law: general, Social law and Medical law