CRACKING THE CODE :

Life, Liberty, Ashcroft (Mary McGrory, July 4, 2002, Washington Post)

No blow dealt by the court was heavier or of more moment than the ruling on school vouchers for students in failing public schools. The majority, as Justice John Paul Stevens observed in his dissent, "has removed a brick from the wall that was once designed to separate religion from government." The majority who favored the removal seemed to derive a gimmicky satisfaction from the fact that the checks would go not to any religious school but to the parents of the children who would go to those religious schools. Justice David Souter seemed exasperated by such evasion. In an uncharacteristically vehement dissent, he wrote, "I hope that a future court will reconsider today's dramatic departure from basic Establishment Clause principle." It is difficult for devotees of public education, who believe a democracy can never be relieved of its duty to teach all its children.

The Signers and Framers were men of faith. The Declaration began and ended with a reference to the Almighty. But they fervently believed in separation of church and state, and they never felt called upon to fall into the paroxysms of piety such as overtook their modern-day successors when they heard a court say that the Pledge of Allegiance with "under God" was unconstitutional. It may well be, but with John Ashcroft playing Savonarola was this the time to say so? If comparable fury and outrage were directed at the Supreme bench for its cavalier treatment of the First Amendment, with its guarantee of church-state separation, it might be more seemly.

Do I have a defective copy of the Constitution or something? People like Ms McGrory and the Court's minority keep referring to "Separation" of church and state and the "wall of separation". But no matter how many times I read it, even under a black light or after waving it over a candle, I just can''t find those words or concepts anywhere in the text. All I can find is : "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". That's it. No walls. No separation. Just concern over "establishment".

Is there some secret codicil to the Bill of Rights that's accessible only to liberal activists, jurists, and columnists?

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 6, 2002 8:20 AM