Ishamel Jaffree lives in Mobile County, Alabama. May 28, 1982 Jaffree filed a complaint because of a daily school prayer said in his children’s school. The prayer was allowed because of an Alabama statute that allowed for a moment of silence for either prayer or silent meditation. Since 1981, Jaffree’s children did not pray and were taunted for it. Jaffree frequently asked for the school to stop. The case went to the District Court and the court decided the First Amendment establishment clause did not ban states from having a religion. Jaffree’s case challenge to the religious laws of Alabama was rejected. The Court of Appeals reversed the decision and the case went to the Supreme Court (O’Brien 791).
3. Question of the Court
Does Alabama’s Statute allowing prayer and meditation violate …show more content…
Everson v. Board of Education (1947) stated the purpose of the Establishment Clause was to, “erect a wall between church and state” (O’Brien 794). The phrase of separation between church and state is from a Thomas Jefferson letter and is often misquoted. Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist Association was just a polite not fourteen years after the Bill of Rights was passed. The Court cannot build a consistent idea of the Establishment Clause with such a flawed sense of history. Thomas Jefferson was in France at the time of the Bill of Rights but his colleague James Madison played a large role in the creation of the Establishment Clause. James Madison was seeking a compromise, not trying to enact the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty into the Constitution. Madison did not want any bill of rights, and thought the religious clauses to be of little consequence. Madison’s original word were , “nor shall any national religion be established,” but that has become a wall between church and state. When a bill was proposed stating, “no religion shall be established by law,” Madison wanted “national” to be placed in front of “religion” (O’Brien
3. Question of the Court
Does Alabama’s Statute allowing prayer and meditation violate …show more content…
Everson v. Board of Education (1947) stated the purpose of the Establishment Clause was to, “erect a wall between church and state” (O’Brien 794). The phrase of separation between church and state is from a Thomas Jefferson letter and is often misquoted. Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist Association was just a polite not fourteen years after the Bill of Rights was passed. The Court cannot build a consistent idea of the Establishment Clause with such a flawed sense of history. Thomas Jefferson was in France at the time of the Bill of Rights but his colleague James Madison played a large role in the creation of the Establishment Clause. James Madison was seeking a compromise, not trying to enact the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty into the Constitution. Madison did not want any bill of rights, and thought the religious clauses to be of little consequence. Madison’s original word were , “nor shall any national religion be established,” but that has become a wall between church and state. When a bill was proposed stating, “no religion shall be established by law,” Madison wanted “national” to be placed in front of “religion” (O’Brien