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40 Cath. Law. 165 (2000-2001)
American Civil LIberties Union of New Jersey v. Schundler: Established Endorsement in Need of Supreme Intervention

handle is hein.journals/cathl40 and id is 179 raw text is: AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF NEW JERSEY v. SCHUNDLER: ESTABLISHED ENDORSEMENT IN NEED OF SUPREME INTERVENTION GABRIEL ACRI* The First Amendment of the United States Constitution houses one of the most basic and indispensable concepts of American democracy-the separation of church and state.' This principle is embodied in the amendment's Establishment Clause, which provides that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion... . 2 The Framers of the Constitution included this explicit guarantee in order to ensure that religion would be permitted to exist independent of government regulation or intervention.3 While the text of the Establishment Clause is somewhat ambiguous,4 it implicitly demands that * J.D. Candidate, June 2001, St. John's University School of Law; B.A., Loyola College in Maryland. 1 See Shahin Rezai, Note, County of Allegheny v. ACLU: Evolution of Chaos in Establishment Clause Analysis, 40 AM. U. L. REV. 503, 540 (1990) (The Court should recognize the first amendment as the guardian of one of the most profound concepts underlying democracy-the separation of church and state.). 2 U.S. CONST. amend. I. 3 See Everson v. Board of Educ., 330 U.S. 1, 9-12 (1947) (discussing the historical underpinnings of the Establishment Clause and the principles guiding Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in constructing the First Amendment); John W. Huleatt, Accommodation or Endorsement? Stark v. Independent School District- Caught in the Tangle of Establishment Clause Chaos, 72 ST. JOHN'S L. REV. 657, 660 (1998) (discussing Jefferson's and Madison's theo-political philosophy and early colonial attempts to guarantee separation of church and state). 4 See LEONARD W. LEVY, THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE: RELIGION AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT, at xxi. (2d ed. 1994) (describing the Founding Fathers as vague if not careless draftsmen). Despite the Clause's ambiguity, the Supreme Court in Everson articulated what meaning the Clause holds at a minimum, stating: The establishment of-religion clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor

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