January 24: Course Introductions, Expectations
IN-CLASS VIDEO: “Supreme Court Hears Case Pitting Gay Rights Against Religious Freedom,” John Yang, PBS Newshour (5 December 2022).
IN-CLASS EXERCISE: Phase I (“The Hypothetical“)
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
January 26: Religion & Government
PRIMARY: HAMMOND, chapters 1, 2; “Debt of American Constitutionalism to Natural Law Concepts” (Corwin)
January 31: Documents, I
PRIMARY: Mayflower Compact (1620); Va. Declaration of Rights (1776); Va. Statute for Religious Freedom (1779/1786)
February 2: Documents, II
PRIMARY: Northwest Ordinance (1787); U.S. Constitution, Article VI (1789); U.S. Constitution, Amendments I-X (“Bill of Rights,” 1791)
February 7: Religion & the Early Republic
PRIMARY: HAMMOND, chapter 3
February 9: Documents, III
PRIMARY: Permoli v. Municipality No. 1 of New Orleans, 44 U.S. 549 (1845); Constitution of the Confederate States of America (1861); U.S. Constitution, Amendment XIV (1868); “The Blaine Amendment and the Bill of Rights” (Meyer)
February 14: Religion, Free Speech, & the Courts
PRIMARY: HAMMOND, chapter 4; Vidal v. Girard’s Executors, 43 U.S. 127 (1844)
DUE: PHASE II (History & Documents)
CASE LAW (Highlights)
February 16:
PRIMARY: Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1878)
February 21:
PRIMARY: Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940); West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
SECONDARY: Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940)
February 23:
PRIMARY: United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1944); Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township, 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
February 28:
PRIMARY: Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488 (1961)
SECONDARY: McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948)
March 2:
PRIMARY: Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962); Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963)
SECONDARY: McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420 (1961)
March 7:
PRIMARY: Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
March 9: NO CLASS (Out of Town)
March 21: Mid-Term Exam #1 (no new reading)
March 23:
PRIMARY: United States v. Seeger, 380 U.S. 163 (1965)
SECONDARY: Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968)
March 28:
PRIMARY: Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971); Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
SECONDARY: McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U.S. 618 (1978)
March 30:
PRIMARY: Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984)
SECONDARY: Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980); Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983)
April 4:
PRIMARY: Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985)
SECONDARY: Goldman v. Weinberger, 475 U.S. 503 (1986)
April 6: NO CLASS (Pesah)
April 11:
PRIMARY: Employment Division, Oregon Department of Human Resources v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
SECONDARY: Westside Community Board of Education v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226 (1990)
April 13:
PRIMARY: “Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993” (.pdf); Beorne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997)
SECONDARY: Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992); Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao Do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418 (2006)
DUE: PHASE III (Case-use Outline)
April 18: MID-TERM EXAM #2 (no new reading)
RECONSIDERING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
April 20: New Frontiers
PRIMARY: HAMMOND, chapters 5, 6, 7
PRIMARY: Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, 492 U.S. 490 (1989) [focus on opinion by Justice Stevens, concurring in part and dissenting in part, p. 560 ]; Cruzan v. Director, MDH, 497 U.S. 261 (1990) [focus on opinion by Justice Stevens, dissenting, p. 301]; Obergefell v. Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health, no. 14-556 (2015)
April 25: Future Battles over Religious Liberty?
PRIMARY: Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services, v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., no. 13-354 (2014); Ben-Levi v. Brown, no. 14-10186 (2016), cert. denied (Justice Alito, dissenting); Stormans v. Weisman, no. 15-862 (2016), cert. denied. (Justice Alito, dissenting)
April 27 (Daytime): NO CLASS (Academic Symposium)
April 27 (Evening): Public Lecture
“Noisy Religion as a Public Nuisance: Church Bells, the Muslim Call to Prayer, and the Challenges of Negotiating Sound”
Blocker Hall Auditorium
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
May 2: International Issues, Conclusions
PRIMARY: “Jihad vs. McWorld” (Barber)
SECONDARY: “Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act” (2016)
May 5: DUE (by 2:00 p.m.): PHASE IV (Final Paper)
