Writing for Newsweek, Dahlia Lithwick gets to the heart of controversies over legislative prayer and the battle over Judge David Hamilton's nomination to the 7th Circuit.
The real problem here isn't Hamilton but the fiction, built into the Supreme Court's religion jurisprudence, that there can be such a thing as a neutral, nonsectarian religious invocation that will make everyone present feel both included and respected. It has led to a crazy quilt of Establishment Clause doctrine that, depending on the judge and the weather, permits public Christmas displays of secular religious symbols… so long as they have been drained of any strong sectarian meaning.
The compromise that has allowed for government to invoke God in ceremonial, nonsectarian ways, is just that: a compromise. With something to offer, and something to make nervous, everyone. In an increasingly polarized politico-religious environment, that careful balance is coming under ever more pressure. Stay tuned.
