Elusive Balance

This reference guide provides the reader straightforward coverage on the controversial and often complicated topic of how the U.S. Supreme Court interprets the Religion Clauses of the U.S. Constitution, which promote the free exercise of religion and prohibit the establishment of religion. The resulting court decisions affects the lives of all Americans in an amazingly wide variety of contexts in the religious and government context. This diverse range includes abortion, conscience rights, drug use, military service, and the rights of same sex couples. These issues are highly controversial and often passionately divisive. This work specifically addresses how the Supreme Court has decided these issues during the tenure of the current Chief Justice, John Roberts. In applying the Religion Clauses to a specific case, the justices often follow the philosophical principles of what the Clauses mean. This book explains these differing ideologies and their significance in Supreme Court jurisprudence on cases where the Religion Clauses have been invoked. While holding to long-established principles, American law constantly evolves to meet the challenges of the United States and as a result of reinterpretation of existing legal issues. Chief Justice John Roberts has served on the Court since 2005. The Court has significantly changed during this time, especially in recent years. As jurists change, the overall judicial perspective of the Court changes as well, giving rise to a potentially new Constitutional jurisprudence in all areas of the law. In covering constitutional jurisprudence in contemporary America, we discuss complicated topics in plain English, with minimal jargon, to make the work as accessible as possible to students and general readers. Editorial enhancements are provided to help the researcher refine or expand their research. As a reference work, this book is not offered to persuade the reader to adopt a particular opinion, but instead, seeks to be unbiased, presenting differing positions on given issues, and facilitating the reader to make informed on some of the most important issues in contemporary American society.