New Report Documents Roberts' Support for Rollback of Religious Liberty Safeguards
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 8/30/2005
John Roberts' "radical" view of the law would bring about "potentially devastating consequences for religious minorities," according to a new report released in opposition to Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court.The report, "Religious Minorities at Risk," released August 29 by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, points to Roberts' "remarkably consistent vision" of a "federal court system that is wholly unreceptive to the Establishment Clause concerns of religious minorities."
Under this vision, according to Americans United, longstanding protections against "over-reaching" by religious majorities would be "jettisoned," throwing church-state jurisprudence into "disarray."
The report charges that Roberts "has consistently called for dismantling the wall that separates church and state."
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, said, "Religious liberty is a cornerstone of the American way of life, and John Roberts simply does not understand that concept. He has been a faithful soldier in the far right's campaign to roll back the church-state safeguards protecting all Americans, especially religious minorities."
The report points out that while at the Solicitor General's office, Roberts called for a rejection of the decades-old "Lemon test," the operative standard used to by courts to decide church-state cases currently supported by five Justices, including Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Under the Lemon test, government action has violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment if such action was taken with a religious purpose, has a primarily religious effect, or excessively entangles church and state.
In its place, Roberts advocated--unsuccessfully--for a narrower "coercion" test that would permit religious action by government if it did not "coerce nonadherents to participate in any religion or religious exercise against their will.
While the Lemon test continues to be the prevailing standard in Establishment Clause cases, Americans United points out that four Justices have been clear in their desire to abandon it, making its continued viability dependent on the views of Justice O'Connor's replacement.
Replacing the Lemon test with Roberts' "coercion" approach would have dire results, according Americans United, because Roberts' view would permit government-sanctioned sectarian prayers at public school ceremonies; displays of religious symbols in public school classrooms; and the use of public dollars to subsidize religious discrimination and other religious activities.
Making matters worse, the report states, is the fact that Roberts, as a Justice Department lawyer in the 1980s, supported legislative measures to deprive the federal courts--historically the court of last resort for religious minorities--of jurisdiction over church-state issues.
"I urge every senator to read this report and then vote against Roberts' confirmation," Lynn added. "I understand why Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson support Roberts' confirmation. I don't understand why anyone else would."
