University Honors

The First Amendment and the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses derived from it are the basis for what Thomas Jefferson coined as the ìwall of separation.î As of 2020 however, the appointments to the Supreme Court made during the first Trump administration marked the creation of an unprecedented 6-3 conservative, catholic, ìsuperî majority. This research project aims to examine not only the impacts of the current religious majority on the Supreme Court, but to argue that there has been a substantial erosion in the separation of church and state in recent decades. This study investigates how judicial decisions have increasingly accommodated religious influence within public institutions, particularly in areas such as education, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ protections, and public funding of religious organizations. This project argues that this erosion is the product of gradual and calculated movements towards satisfying religious interests, and analyzes the shortcomings and rulings of the Supreme Court that have emboldened the mobilization of conservative religious movements and religious nationalism. This research examines Supreme Court decisions on both the merit and emergency docket, that impact the separation of church and state.