VA250 Program Series – Reestablishing Religion: How the Supreme Court Dismantled Separation of Church and State

As we finish out our VA250 Program Series – Fighting for Freedom: The Declaration of Independence and Its Legacy, join us for an important look at one of the five freedoms protected in the First Amendment. For this final installment of Fighting for Freedom, Micah Schwartzman, director of the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy and the Hardy Cross Dillard Professor of Law, will take a deeper look at the freedom of religion.

In the last few years, the Supreme Court has upended its doctrine of religious freedom under the First Amendment. The Court has explicitly rejected the doctrine of strict separation, which limited government support of religion, and it has adopted interpretations of disestablishment and free exercise that provide special solicitude for religion. Now, the government must treat religion equally with respect to providing public benefits. But it must also grant special exemptions from regulations that burden religion. This pattern of equal treatment for benefits and special exemptions from burdens yields a doctrinal that gives preference to religion. In the next year, the Supreme Court is likely to extend this pattern in several cases involving government funding of religious schools and the display of religious symbols in public education, signaling a transformation in the law of religion and state.