Fifth Circuit en banc in Classroom Ten Commandment Case

Stephanie Barclay writes

 

Money quotation:

 But the Founding-era hallmark of a religious establishment was mandatory attendance at religious services, not mere exposure to religious content. In Louisiana and Texas, students are not being required to pray, to affirm religious belief, or to participate in any religious observance, or asked to view others undertaking these exercises. They are being exposed to a display of text – text that, whatever its religious significance, the states contend has historical importance to the development of American law.

Any governmental acknowledgment of religion could be characterized as “coercive” to someone who disagrees with it. That is precisely the open-ended, policy-driven inquiry that Kennedy rejected in favor of historical analysis.