America's Courts on Trial  ^{Notes: Establishment} 

In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton tells us that "The judiciary, from the nature of its functions, will always be the least dangerous to the political rights of the Constitution. ... It may truly be said to have neither Force nor Will, but merely judgment."  Clearly, our Founding Fathers never intended the judiciary to make laws like the legislative branch, nor enforce its decisions without the aid of the executive.  But all that has changed.  For decades, federal court decisions have revealed a pattern of judicial activism by liberal judges that is reshaping our laws and redefining American society.  Some of the more prominent activist decisions by federal courts are listed below.   [See also the 'separation of church & state case' : EVERSON v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF EWING TP. | FindLaw| Decided: February 10, 1947  - ed. ]

 • 1962, ENGEL V. VITALE.  The U.S. Supreme Court struck down school prayer, the first [major] decision in which the courts re-interpreted the phrase "separation of church and state." After 170 years, the Court decided that "church" would no longer mean a "federal denomination" but would instead mean a "religious activity in public." (Abusive usurpation via the Fourteenth Amendment.) PopUp
• 1963, MURRAY V. CURLETT and ABINGTON V. SCHEMPP.  The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Bible reading and recitation of the Lord's Prayer, based on the same re-interpretation of "church and state" and the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.  (Abusive usurpation via the Fourteenth Amendment.) . 
• 1973, ROE V. WADE. The U.S. Supreme Court created the right to have an abortion, and struck down all state laws forbidding it.  (This is denial of murder and taking baby lives for money; many of the false religions included child sacrifices. - ed.)    Overturned by Dobbs 2022
• 1980, STONE V. GRAHAM. The U.S. Supreme Court voted to ban displays of the Ten Commandments from public schools as impermissible under the Establishment Clause. 
• 1981, COLLINS V. CHANDLER UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that freedom of speech and press is guaranteed to students unless the topic is religious.  In an earlier decision, Reed v. Van Hoven (1965), the Court ruled that if a student prays over his lunch, it is unconstitutional for him to pray aloud. 
• 1985, GRAHAM V. CENTRAL and1992, LEE V. WEISMAN.  Both rulings by The U.S. Supreme Court struck down religious benedictions and invocations from school activities. 
• 1992, PLANNED PARENTHOOD V. CASEY. The U.S. Supreme Court linked its own legitimacy with abortion in a bizarre argument. The Court held that doubts over whether Roe v. Wade was properly decided should be put aside because if Roe v. Wade were reversed, the legitimacy of the Court would be in question. (For some of us the legitimacy of the Court has been in question since Everson v. Board of Education, 1947.- ed.) 
• 1996, ROMER V. EVANS. In a statewide referendum in Colorado in 1995, voters passed Amendment 2, which held that while homosexuals are entitled to full and equal protection under the law, they are not entitled to "special status" under the law.  However, a state district judge denied the will of the people and overturned the election results.  His decision was later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court which, in Romer v. Evans, accused the voters of Colorado of animosity toward homosexuals. 
• 1996, KAREN FINLEY ET AL. V. NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.   The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that it is unconstitutional for a government agency to consider "decency and respect" for American values when it gives out the taxpayer money.  The plaintiffs in the case were Karen Finley, the woman who became famous by parading on stage dressed in nothing but a layer of chocolate, and three others whose nude performances centered on homosexual themes.  All had received taxpayer funding for their "art."  The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision in 1998, but too late to halt the taxpayer-funded performances.
• 1997, GENERAL MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS V. PERRY.   A federal judge ruled that Penthouse magazine and other sexually explicit magazines and videos have a First Amendment right to be available in taxpayer-subsidized stores on military bases.  By the ruling, the military was enjoined from obeying the Military Honor and Decency Act of 1996, which forbade such materials on military bases. The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed this decision, declaring this Act a reasonable, viewpoint-neutral regulation of speech in a non-public forum.
•1999, DALE V. BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA.   The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled against the Boy Scouts after they banned an openly gay man from serving as a Scout leader.  The decision was based on the grounds that the Scouts were considered a public accommodation.  The ruling was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, which found that requiring the Scouts to admit gays violated the Scouts' First Amendment right of expressive association.  (The former ruling attacked the most basic right; that of self-preservation. - ed.) 
• 1999, CHANDLER V. JAMES. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision which banned all school prayer, even if initiated by students, and set up a system of court monitoring of classrooms to ensure compliance. 
• 1999, BAKER V. STATE. The Vermont Supreme Court discovered the right to homosexual marriage. The decision allowed Vermont to create the first-ever civil unions law in the nation, allowing homosexuals to enter into marriage-like unions and participate in all the benefits of marriage previously reserved for heterosexual married couples.
• 2000, SANTA FE SCHOOL INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT VS. DOE.  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public school districts may not allow students to lead pre-game prayers at high school football games.  The Court found that the practice violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. 
• 2000, ACLU V. STATE OF OHIO. The Ohio state motto, "With God, all things are possible," was ruled unconstitutional by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which decided the motto violated "separation of church and state" because the motto is a biblical quote from Jesus Christ.  The decision was later overturned by a federal appeals court which upheld Ohio's motto, calling the phrase "religion neutral" and constitutional even though the quote is taken directly from the Bible. 
• 2000, ATKINS V. VIRGINIA. The U.S. Supreme Court re-interpreted the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to outlaw capital punishment for those with low I.Q. scores.  Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the majority, said the decision was based not on constitutional precedent but what he called a "national consensus," for which he cited "polling data."
• 2000, STENBERG V. CARHART.   The U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned the laws of 27 states banning partial-birth abortions.
• 2002, MICHAEL A. NEWDOW V. U.S. CONGRESS.   The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because of the words "under God" inserted by Congress in 1954.  After the ruling, members of the U.S. House of Representatives gathered on the front steps of the Capitol to recite the pledge en masse.
• 2003, LAWRENCE V. TEXAS. In a landmark decision regarded by many as establishment of a constitutional right to "gay" sex, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Texas' ban on same-sex sodomy.  The ruling reversed a 1986 Supreme Court decision, Bowers v. Hardwick, which said individuals had no federal constitutional right to engage in homosexual acts.  
• 2003, GLASSROTH V. MOORE. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling ordering a display of the Ten Commandments removed from the state's judicial building rotunda. The court determined the display was a violation of separation of church and state.  (The Court just keeps making the culture worse and worse. - ed.)

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•  • This document came in the USPS mail about Nov. 2004 but the attribution has been lost.  Please identify the author & credit will be added.
   • The author of this page understated the consequences of these Court decrees because most of these cases, plus the 6,000 other 'separation of church and state' cases, apply toward the covert establishment of the Supreme Court's Secular Religion especially where the court denies Truth, and denies 'the free expression' of religion, and requires that worm of infidelity: 'a secular purpose'.
•  • This is the truth regarding "free expression"  Separation-Church-State-Tunnel.html
   • Some of these cases although important have had their text diminished indicating diminished interest for the purpose of this page.  All diminished text, underlines ,, and italics were added by ed. including the nine (9) underlined red dots  "•"  which identify some of the multiple, unconstitutional, cumulative and interlocking decisions establishing the Supreme Court's Secular Religion which all started by denying a minor school child's free expression of religion (Everson 1947).
    • The sexual promiscuity cases are noteworthy because a central theme of the Secular Religion is the exploitation of sex and lust:- theirs & others, adults & minor children, for illicit use, abuse or financial gain.  - ed.   Published: 01/20/2005,
•  • The first use of "separation of church and state" was 1947 EVERSON v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF EWING TP., 330 U.S. 1.   (added 2/20/2012).,
• •  1948, McCOLLUM V. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICT 71 , 333 U.S. 203 (1948) 333 U.S. 203, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, ILL, et al.  ("In 1940, local Jewish, Roman Catholic, and some Protestant groups formed the Champaign (IL) Council on Religious Education. The group, with cooperation of the Champaign Board of Education, offered voluntary classes (emphasis added) in religion to public school students. The classes were held during the school day and those children not participating were forced (prejudicial - ed)to go elsewhere in the school to pursue secular studies.  In order to participate, a student needed to have a permission slip signed by his parents.)[1.]"    (Not sure how findlaw.com or the previous citation can change the court document; but, the quoted text above is different than today (8/29/2019).  The new quoted text  follows for comparison.)   ("In 1940 interested members of the Jewish, Roman Catholic, and a few of the Protestant faiths formed a voluntary association called the Champaign Council on Religious Education. They obtained permission from the Board of Education to offer classes in religious instruction to public schoolp upils  [sic] in grades four to nine inclusive. Classes were made up of pupils whose parents signed printed cards requesting that their children be permitted to attend;")   (The purpose for citing this case was to explore how ludicrous it is to assume that several Protestant denominations a Catholic denomination and a The Jewish religion could constitute a "church" to be separated from government!) "•"  Since states' Blaine Amendments have been overturned, this case should be re-evaluated on "freedom of assembly" and it's companion "freedom to not assemble".

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