Foreordained Failure

The Quest for a Constitutional Principle of Religious Freedom
Erscheinungsjahr 1999
ISBN: 978-0-19-513248-9
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 282 g

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 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 distil religious freedom into a "principle," is futile, Smith advocates a fundamental reassessment of the premises upon which courts have proceeded in this area.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Smith, Steven D.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein

Über Autor(innen)

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.