Brown eliminated the constitutional doctrine of separate but equal — in the Brown decision just for education, but it was applied to all racial classifications. The 1964 Civil Rights Act accomplished much more, of course, but the Brown decision matters a lot.
So it is with numerous decisions. Hobby Lobby’s acceptance of the complicity with evil theory in this attenuated context and its ruling that arguably requires all courts to simply accept the religious adherent’s claim that the burden is substantial, could dramatically change the landscape of RFRA interpretation federally and by example at the state level. These underlying principles could also be restricted by later decisions or expanded. It is a very troubling expansion of RFRA beyond what was intended originally. But that is hardly unique to this bit of legislation. I think it is a very bad decision, but not even in the top ten. -- Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017 Director of International Programs, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice http://iipsj.org Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8567 http://sdjlaw.org "For all men of good will May 17, 1954, came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of enforced segregation. . . . It served to transform the fatigue of despair into the buoyancy of hope." Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1960 on Brown v. Board of Education
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