Abington School District v. Schempp,374 U.S. 203 (1963),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court decided 8–1 in favor of the respondent,Edward Schempp,on behalf of his son Ellery Schempp,and declared that school-sponsored Bible reading and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer in public schools in the United States was unconstitutional.
"In God We Trust" is the official motto of the United States as well as the motto of the U.S. state of Florida,along with the nation of Nicaragua. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956,replacing E pluribus unum,which had been the de facto motto since the initial design of the Great Seal of the United States.
Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow,542 U.S. 1 (2004),was a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuit,originally filed as Newdow v. United States Congress,Elk Grove Unified School District,et al. in 2000,led to a 2002 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are an endorsement of religion and therefore violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The words had been added by a 1954 act of Congress that changed the phrase "one nation indivisible" into "one nation under God,indivisible". After an initial decision striking the congressionally added "under God",the superseding opinion on denial of rehearing en banc was more limited,holding that compelled recitation of the language by school teachers to students was invalid.
"Separation of church and state" is a metaphor paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson and used by others in discussions regarding the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which reads:"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated to the high court by President George W. Bush on October 31,2005,and has served on it since January 31,2006. After Antonin Scalia,Alito is the second Italian American justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Liberty Counsel is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt religious liberty organization that engages in litigation related to evangelical Christian values. Liberty Counsel was founded in 1989 by its chairman Mathew Staver and its president Anita L. Staver,who are attorneys and married to each other. The Southern Poverty Law Center has listed Liberty Counsel as an anti-LGBT hate group,a designation the group has disputed. The group is a Christian ministry.
McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky,545 U.S. 844 (2005),was a case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on March 2,2005. At issue was whether the Court should continue to inquire into the purpose behind a religious display and whether evaluation of the government's claim of secular purpose for the religious displays may take evolution into account under an Establishment Clause of the First Amendment analysis.
Christian amendment describes any of several attempts to amend a country's constitution in order to officially make it a Christian state.
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States has been criticized on several grounds. Its use in government funded schools has been the most controversial,as critics contend that a government-sanctioned endorsement of religion violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Arguments against the pledge include that the pledge itself is incompatible with democracy and freedom,that it is a form of nationalistic indoctrination,that pledges of allegiance are features of current and former totalitarian states such as Nazi Germany,and that the pledge was written to sell flags.
Andrew Joseph Lanza is an American lawyer and Republican politician. He is a member of the New York State Senate,representing the 24th district,which includes most of Staten Island. He was elected in 2006 after having served on the New York City Council for the 51st district.
In the United States,freedom of religion is a constitutionally protected right provided in the religion clauses of the First Amendment. As stated in the Bill of Rights:"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...". George Washington stressed freedom of religion as a fundamental American principle even before the First Amendment was ratified. In 1790,in a letter to the Touro Synagogue,he expressed the government “gives to bigotry no sanction”and “to persecution no assistance." Freedom of religion is linked to the countervailing principle of separation of church and state,a concept advocated by Colonial founders such as Dr. John Clarke,Roger Williams,William Penn,and later Founding Fathers such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson.
Mathew D. "Mat" Staver is an American lawyer and former pastor of several Seventh-day Adventist churches who became a Southern Baptist. He is a former dean of Liberty University's law school. In 1989,he founded the nonprofit organization Liberty Counsel,where he serves as chairman. ProPublica called him "a leading Christian legal theorist."
Paul v. Davis,424 U.S. 693 (1976),is a United States Supreme Court case in which a sharply divided Court held that the plaintiff,whom the local police chief had named an "active shoplifter," suffered no deprivation of liberty resulting from injury to his reputation. In the case,the court broke from precedents and restricted the definition of the constitutional right to privacy "to matters relating to 'marriage procreation,contraception,family relationships,and child rearing and education".
David Louis Bunning is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Bunning is the son of former Republican Senator Jim Bunning,a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher who represented Kentucky in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2011.
Gregory Frederick Van Tatenhove,also known as Greg Van Tatenhove,is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. He was a legislative aide of Senator Mitch McConnell,a law clerk for Judge Eugene Edward Siler Jr.,United States attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky (2001–05),and on the recommendation of Senators Jim Bunning and Mitch McConnell he was nominated to fill a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Daniel Cameron was a law clerk for Van Tatenhove,who later swore him in as Kentucky Attorney General.
Amul Roger Thapar is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He previously served as a U.S. district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2008 to 2017 and as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2006 to 2008. Thapar was President Donald Trump's first Court of Appeals appointment and Trump's second judicial appointment after Justice Neil Gorsuch. Thapar was discussed as a candidate for the Supreme Court of the United States.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Kentucky since the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26,2015. The decision,which struck down Kentucky's statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriages,was handed down on June 26,2015,and Governor Steve Beshear and Attorney General Jack Conway announced almost immediately that the court's order would be implemented.
Kimberly Jean Davis is an American former county clerk for Rowan County,Kentucky,who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Attica Woodson Scott is an American politician who served as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from the 41st district from 2017 to 2023.
Claudia Riner is an American politician who served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1978 to 1981,representing the 36th district. She was the first woman from Madisonville,Kentucky,to hold high public office. Riner was characterized by colleagues in the legislature as a polarizing figure,due to her conservatism and religious activism,but she was also known as a persistent and adept legislator. She proposed multiple bills related to her Christian values,including her most well-known "Ten Commandments law",requiring that a copy of the Ten Commandments be posted in a plaque in every Kentucky classroom. She also proposed bills to teach creation science in public schools,ban the sale and distribution of pornography to minors,and require that misdemeanor offenders compensate their victims.
