October 7 not only marks the first (and perhaps only) church-state case the Supreme Court will hear this session, it will be our first opportunity to hear how new Justice Sonia Sotomayor approaches questioning on issues in this area. As I have posted before, the Baptist Joint Committee has filed an amicus brief with the court in Salazar v. Buono, urging the acceptance of Buono's claim of standing, and the BJC's Holly Hollman previously offered an extremely helpful preview to the case in Report From the Capital.
Today, the Pew Forum also previewed the case, adding this important item as important potential significance in the case:
…if the court reverses the 9th Circuit's decision on the ground that Buono did not have standing to bring his Establishment Clause claim, then in the future other citizens across the country might find it more difficult to bring similar lawsuits in federal court. The court could limit such a lack of standing to people who claim to be offended specifically by the government's preference for some religious displays over others, or the court might go further and rule that people who generally object to public religious displays lack standing.
In addition, the Blog of Legal Times reports, a preview by constitutional law experts of the upcoming session at the National press Club today yielded the following on Salazar v. Buono:
This case asks whether a war memorial in California—a giant cross—violates the establishment clause. [Jenner and Smith Attorney Paul] Smith said the decision is up in the air here too.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a very aggressive stand on an establishment clause ruling,” he said.
