foreign aid and the establishment clause

[Daniel Hoffman]

--- On Sun, 11/8/09, Steven Jamar <stevenjamar at gmail.com> wrote:



I can't imagine the Supreme Court finding a first amendment violation in such circumstances for several reasons.

1.  It is a matter of foreign policy for Congress and the President, not the Court to decide.

I realize that the Court has sometimes spoken as if this were the case, but this statement cannot withstand scrutiny.  Taken literally, it would allow the political branches to circumvent any and all constitutional limitations, simply by promising a foreign government--or maybe even a foreign nonstate actor--to do so.
 
It is one thing to be deferential in reviewing actions that impact our foreign affairs, but an entirely different matter to claim that the constitution and the judicial power have no role in this context.
 
This is, I hope, a really wild hypo, but what if an Al Qaeda armed with WMD demanded we establish Sharia law?
 
Daniel Hoffman
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