Baptist Joint Committee Director Brent Walker surveys the church-state landscape over the past decade. Verdict? The Establishment Clause suffered, the Free Exercise clause was strengthened, and religious liberty abroad "continues to be abysmal". You should read the whole thing for details and commentary. Here's an excerpt as he explains the development of the Supreme Court over the last 10 years from the BJC perspective:
[W]hen John Roberts took over for William Rehnquist as Chief Justice, the Court’s church-state posture was somewhat improved. In our estimation, Chief Justice Rehnquist almost always decided church-state cases wrongly. Chief Justice Roberts appears to be more sympathetic to free exercise even though he may be no better than Chief Justice Rehnquist in Establishment Clause cases. Although we sometimes disagreed with the opinions of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, she was right most of the time and could be counted on to render carefully nuanced opinions. While Justice Samuel Alito’s church-state jurisprudence has not been fully fleshed out, his replacement of Justice O’Connor is definitely a minus. He authored the Court’s opinion in Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation (2007), which severely curtailed the taxpayer standing doctrine, making it harder for plaintiffs to bring Establishment Clause cases. Finally, Justice Sonia Sotomayor appears from her Judiciary Committee testimony and judicial record to be sound in her church-state views, but Justice David Souter, whom she replaced, was nearly perfect in the 20 church-state opinions he wrote or joined. She has a lot to live up to.
