Re: seperation of church & state?

More | Report Post

On 7/15/04, somerandomguy wrote:
> On 7/09/04, anonymous wrote:
>> I see; so it's the "interpretation" by the Supreme court.
>>
>> I have never been comfortable with the Court 'interpreting' the
>> meaning they want from the Constitution. IMO, only a stringent
>> literal reading of theConstitution is valid.
>>
>> On 7/08/04, US Supreme Court case law wrote:
>>> The phrase "separation of church and state" is from a US
>>> Supreme Court decision interpreting the 1st Amendment.
>
> Impossible. If you use a literalist interpretation, then the 1st
> amend means nothing. "Congress shall make no law" doesn't
> prevent the making of laws, it arguably only redefines any law
> made to be not one respecting speech or religion. TECHNICALLY,
> the Marbury v. Madison decision permitting SCt review of
> legislative action wasn't a literalist interpretation, and it's
> the sole source of most constitutional law thereafter.

How can you say that "Congress shall make no law" doesn't prevent
the making of a law? It reads fairly straight forward; it is a
declarative statement.