| The question is not whether the government can restrict people from putting into action certain beliefs. It can. The question is under what circumstances the government can do so. Gene takes an approach that gives the government a lot of room to limit exercise of religious beliefs, as did the S Ct in Smith. But even Smith doesn't go as far as Gene would push it. As all lawyers on this list know, any particular rule or utterance about freedom of religion may be read narrowly or broadly and predicting just what approach will be used in any particular circumstance is difficult at best. In the ordered liberty set up by the Constitution, as amended, neither rights of individuals nor the power of the government are unlimited, howsoever broad they each may seem to be from time to time. Howsoever much Gene may wish his interpretation were the law, or would be found persuasive to many of us, it is neither the law of the land nor convincing to most on this list. BTW, Gene, don't go read the 11th Amendment and its history to see how it has been contorted into something quite at odds with what it was meant to address -- you would probably find it even more vexing. Some of us feel the same way about a variety of other provisions of the Constitution as well. Oh, one last thing, Gene, are you with Justice Thomas on the constitutional invalidity of our entire system of administrative agencies and the welfare state? I'm just trying to see whether your cramped, literalist meaning approach extends beyond the religion clauses and comprehends a whole, unitary approach to constitutional interpretation. If so, that would help me understand your view of the religion clauses. Steve On Nov 20, 2005, at 5:35 PM, Gene Garman wrote:
-- Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017 Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8428 2900 Van Ness Street NW mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Washington, DC 20008 http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar "Face violence if necessary, but refuse to return violence. If we respect those who oppose us, they may achieve a new understanding of the human relations involved." Martin Luther King, Jr. |
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw
Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
