On Friday, the former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor died at the age of ninety-three. Appointed to the court by Ronald Reagan, she served from 1981 until 2006. Kelsey Dallas assesses her legacy when it comes to issues of freedom of religion:
O’Connor joined the majority in cases that enabled public money to go to private, religious schools. Those decisions stood out to Richard Garnett, a professor of law and political science at the University of Notre Dame, when I asked him to reflect on O’Connor’s religious freedom legacy in an email.
“She was a consistent vote . . . for the principle that the Establishment Clause does not require education-funding programs to discriminate against parents who choose religious schools for their children. She was, in other words, a key player in one of the more significant First Amendment developments of the last 50 years,” he said.
O’Connor, as well as Kennedy, seemed to feel that the government could find a way to give all faith groups equal access to funds and, in that way, avoid unlawful favoritism. . . . But in the context of religious displays or religious expression, it’s much harder for officials to treat all religions equally.
Read more on Deseret News: https://www.deseret.com/faith/2023/12/5/23984100/sandra-day-oconnor-religion-rulings-supreme-court