Discrimination Against Wiccans; Simpson v. Chesterfield County

[Steven Jamar]

There is a meanginful difference between discriminating against one 
religion among many religious contenders and discriminating against all 
religions to avoid establishment.

The validity of seeing the two cases as distinct does not resolve how 
either should be  resolved.

Nonetheless, like Marty, I find the individual discrimination easier to 
say is a violation than the exclusion of a whole class of entities in 
this situation.  No prayer at all v. excluding some as unworthy seems 
easy to me.


On Friday, April 15, 2005, at 10:13 AM, Marty Lederman wrote:

> My positions in the two cases are not in the slightest bit 
> inconsistent.  But don't take my word for it:  My principal posts on 
> the Child Evangelism case are set out below (truncated so as to come 
> within the space limits), and they continue to reflect my views on the 
> Free Speech Clause question presented there.  Suffice it to say that 
> if my school district permitted virtually all religious flyers to be 
> included in childrens' backpacks other than those of the Wiccans, I 
> would think that the Wiccans would have a fairly airtight 
> constitutional claim, notwithstanding that I might think the 
> underlying policy (allowing religious flyers at all) was 
> constitutionally dubious (just as I think Marsh is fairly 
> indefensible).   
>  
-- 
Prof. Steven D. Jamar                                     vox:  
202-806-8017
Howard University School of Law                           fax:  
202-806-8428
2900 Van Ness Street NW	                        
mailto:sjamar at law.howard.edu
Washington, DC  20008           
http://www.law.howard.edu/faculty/pages/jamar

"I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three 
meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, 
and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits."

Martin Luther King, Jr., (1964, on accepting the Nobel Peace Prize)


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