Erik J. Chaput teaches in the School of Continuing Education at Providence College. He is the author of "Rhode Island and the Establishment Clause," a digital curriculum guide for teachers hosted on RIHS.org. The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to remove a federal right to abortion and overturn Roe v. Wade (1973), arguably the most hotly debated case in American politics over the last 50 years, has certainly grabbed most of the headlines in recent weeks. Somewhat lost in the coverage of this blockbuster term of the Court, however, has been the landmark decisions relating to these provisions of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” On June 21, the Supreme Court struck down a decades-old tuition program in a rural area, with limited public schools, in the state of Maine because it did not allow for public funds to go to religious schools. Chief Justice John Roberts maintained that the plaintiffs’ right to the free exercise of religion had been violated. A week later, the Court ruled that a school board in Washington state discriminated against a football coach […]
