The Wall of Separation

The Constitutional Politics of Church and State

Frank Joseph Sorauf

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780691617299, 9780691644448
• eBook ISBN: 9781400871216
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Ideologies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This is the story of some of the most anguished constitutional controversies of our time, those involving the issue of separation of church and state. Few questions stimulated debate as intense as that over prayer in public schools and public aid to parochial schools. In contrast to previous studies, which have focused on the substance of the issues, Frank J. Sorauf's book concentrates on the judicial process in its social and political context.

The author discusses all sixty-seven cases in this area of litigation decided by high American appellate courts from 1951 to 1971. He has interviewed the plaintiffs, attorneys, and members of the groups bringing suit, and describes their strategies and goals, their successes and failures. The community context in which the cases developed, as well as the judges and the courts deciding them, is described and analyzed.

Originally published in 1976.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Preface
• List of Tables
• I The Constitution and the Separation
• II The Legal and Religious Context
• III The Separationist Groups
• IV The Separationists in Litigation
• V Goals and Strategies of the Separationist Groups
• VI The Plaintiffs
• VII The Separationist Attorneys
• VIII The Accommodationist Defendants
• IX The Judges
• X The Adversary Cases: Incidence and Outcome
• XI The Friendly Cases
• XII The Immediate Impacts
• XIII The Impact on Policy
• XIV The Changing Shape of Constitutional Litigation
• XV Epilogue: 1971 to 1974
• Appendix I. The Universe of Cases
• Appendix II. Sources
• Appendix III. Definitions and Criteria
• Index