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Foreordained Failure: The Quest for a Constitutional Principle of Religious Freedom
by Smith, Steven D.
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$33.49
Overview
Overview
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.
- Format: Trade Paperback
- Author: Smith, Steven D.
- ISBN: 9780195132489
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 9.02 x 0.51
- Number Of Pages: 192
- Publication Year: 1999