The following excerpts are from a report posted on the website of the plaintiff, the Freedom From Religion Foundation: [1]
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision today in Hein v. FFRF granting the executive branch the freedom to violate the separation of church and state without court review spells “imperial presidency,” charges the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
“This means we have a constitutional separation between church and state, but no way to enforce it if the executive branch chooses to violate it with ‘discretionary’ actions,” added Dan Barker, a plaintiff and Foundation co-president.
“The only remedy left, since individual Americans are being barred from challenging this violation, is for Congress to defund the Office of Faith-based Initiatives at the White House and Cabinets,” said Barker. “Let Congress provide the oversight that the Court is refusing to give!”
The punchy and powerful dissent, written by Justice Souter and signed by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Stevens, notes: “If the Executive could accomplish through the exercise of discretion exactly what Congress cannot do through legislation, Establishment Clause protection would melt away.”
Souter wrote: “I see no basis for this distinction in either logic or precedent, and respectfully dissent.”
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