Yesterday’s Decision in the Legislative Prayer Case

Most of our fights about the Establishment Clause boil down to this: What can a religious minority reasonably require of the majority? Or, put differently, how far must the majority go to accommodate the sensibilities of the minority? Here, the Court seems to be saying, if a town is overwhelmingly Christian, non-Christians cannot legitimately expect that legislative prayers will be anything but overwhelmingly Christian. To insist on something else would be unreasonable. Continue Reading »

Religion’s Social Goods

A growing number of legal scholars question whether a justification exists for protecting religion as its own category. Yes, the text of the First Amendment refers specifically to religion, they concede, but that’s an anachronism. As a matter of principle, religion as such doesn’t merit . . . . Continue Reading »

Everyone Deserves a SWAT

One of the consequences of the inner city violence that Peter mentions in the previous piece was the rise of the SWAT team. The country’s first official SWAT team started in the late 1960s in Los Angeles. By 1975, there were approximately 500 such units. Today, there are thousands. According . . . . Continue Reading »

Domestic Partners and the US Military

Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense, sent out a memorandum the other day about ” Extending Benefits to Same-Sex Partners of Military Members “. You could look at it as the other shoe dropping with the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Now, you tell so you can be . . . . Continue Reading »

How would we control guns, anyway?

Via Ben Boychuk, I have this article out of Washington State about proposed gun control legislation there. Responding to the Newtown school massacre, the bill would ban the sale of semi-automatic weapons that use detachable ammunition magazines. Clips that contain more than 10 rounds would be . . . . Continue Reading »