James Finn
Sep 11, 2023

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This irony is particularly stark in the area of government sponsorship of religion. The founders were very clear in their communications with each other and the public that they intended the First Amendment to prohibit any kind of government entanglement with religion. They were specific about it. They opposed laws that required shops to be closed on Sundays. They were more than uneasy with prayer before government functions. The idea of taxpayer money going to support religious entities would have been anathema to them.

Yet conservatives, including on the Supreme Court, are fine with those sorts of things, despite what an originalist reading of the First Amendment would indicate.

Originalism is usually a code word for conservative. And originalists always cherry pick what they're original about.

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James Finn
James Finn

Written by James Finn

James Finn is an LGBTQ columnist, a former Air Force intelligence analyst, an alumnus of Act Up NY, and an agented but unpublished novelist.

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