In states where abortion is prohibited, the share of people who say access to abortion should be easier has increased since August 2019. A majority of residents in those states say it would be difficult to get an abortion in the area where they live today, up 21 points from four years ago.
There has been a jump in the share of U.S. adults who see the Supreme Court as “friendly” toward religion.
Here is a roundup of Americans’ views of the court, perceptions of its ideology, the history of confirmations and justices’ backgrounds.
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On June 27, 2005, the Supreme Court issued sharply divided decisions in two cases involving constitutional challenges to government-sponsored displays of the Ten Commandments. In McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (03-1693), a 5-4 majority held that two Kentucky counties had “predominantly religious” purposes in posting the Ten Commandments in their courthouses, […]
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s decision to step down from the Supreme Court sets up a possible next chapter in the nation’s culture wars. If the debate over O’Connor’s replacement turns into a referendum on Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a woman’s right to abortion, the argument is likely to galvanize a significant […]
Read the Pew Forum Discussion transcript The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), a federal law that aims to protect the religious freedom of inmates and others held in state and local institutions. The unanimous decision in Cutter v. Wilkinson, issued on May 31, reverses […]
Church-State Experts React to Unanimous Ruling The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the constitutionality of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), a federal law that aims to protect the religious freedom of inmates and others held in state and local institutions. The unanimous decision in Cutter v. Wilkinson reverses a ruling by the […]
2:00-3:30pm National Press Club Washington, D.C. Download legal backgrounder on Ten Commandments cases (154K .pdf) On March 2, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases that concern the placement of Ten Commandments displays on public property. The commandments controversy came to national prominence in 2003, when the chief justice of the Alabama […]
10:00 – 11:30 a.m. National Press Club Washington, D.C. Speakers: Doug Laycock, Counsel of Record for 32 Christian and Jewish clergy, urging the Court to affirm the 9th Circuit’s ruling Jay Alan Sekulow, Chief Counsel, American Center for Law and Justice; Counsel of Record for United States Senators and Congressmen and the Committee to Protect […]
The Forum’s Pledge of Allegiance Issue Backgrounder, written by legal scholars and published in March 2004, details the history of the Pledge and offers analysis of the legal questions raised in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow. The document addresses both the issue of Mr. Newdow’s standing (his legal right to sue) and the […]
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