For social conservatives, the last week of the U.S. Supreme Court term may well have been the toughest since June 1992. Then, the court looked to be on the verge of reversing both the right to abortion established in 1973 in Roe v. Wade and the ban on school-sponsored prayers set in the 1960s.
The court had a fresh contingent of new justices appointed by Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. When Clarence Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall in 1991, eight of the nine justices were Republican appointees. The only Democratic appointee was Justice Byron White, who favored overturning Roe and scaling back the school prayer ban.
But the court confounded expectations with a pair of 5-4 rulings that upheld the right to abortion in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, and preserved the strict ban on school-sponsored invocations and prayers in Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577.
This term was something of a replay.
The ABA Journal details those interesting observations here.
For social conservatives, the last week of the U.S. Supreme Court term may well have been the toughest since June 1992. Then, the court looked to be on the verge of reversing both the right to abortion established in 1973 in Roe v. Wade and the ban on school-sponsored prayers set in the 1960s.
The court had a fresh contingent of new justices appointed by Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. When Clarence Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall in 1991, eight of the nine justices were Republican appointees. The only Democratic appointee was Justice Byron White, who favored overturning Roe and scaling back the school prayer ban.
But the court confounded expectations with a pair of 5-4 rulings that upheld the right to abortion in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, and preserved the strict ban on school-sponsored invocations and prayers in Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577.
This term was something of a replay.
The ABA Journal details those interesting observations here.
For social conservatives, the last week of the U.S. Supreme Court term may well have been the toughest since June 1992. Then, the court looked to be on the verge of reversing both the right to abortion established in 1973 in Roe v. Wade and the ban on school-sponsored prayers set in the 1960s.
The court had a fresh contingent of new justices appointed by Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. When Clarence Thomas replaced Thurgood Marshall in 1991, eight of the nine justices were Republican appointees. The only Democratic appointee was Justice Byron White, who favored overturning Roe and scaling back the school prayer ban.
But the court confounded expectations with a pair of 5-4 rulings that upheld the right to abortion in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, and preserved the strict ban on school-sponsored invocations and prayers in Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577.
This term was something of a replay.
The ABA Journal details those interesting observations here.
Join the conversation!