Word: burger
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...high court found the government sponsored natively scene constitutional, in a decision that is surely one of the most poorly conceived rulings in years. The majority opinion is a masterpiece of ambiguities that side-step the issue and side-track the argument. Writing for the majority. Chief Justice Warren Burger displays either a naivete about religious symbols that strains credibility, or an oversensitivity to conservative political pressure...
...agree with Burger's complaints about litigation "mania." Petty suits are being filed daily. A man sues a company for damages suffered when he could not hear traffic because he was wearing earphones. A drunk sues a bar because it should have refused to serve him. Some lawyers are accepting these cases; otherwise lawsuits could never be filed...
...inclusion of a crèche in a municipally financed Pawtucket, R.I., Christmas display, gave new heart to those who hope, and new worries to those who fear, that the court may now be less insistent on maintaining a "wall of separation between church and state."* Chief Justice Warren Burger, writing for the majority, called the wall "a useful figure of speech" but "not a wholly accurate description of the practical aspects of the relationship that in fact exists between church and state...
...case involved Pawtucket's use of public funds ($1,365 initially, $20 a year now) to buy and then reerect annually a crèche as part of a Christmas display that also featured such secular holiday symbols as reindeer and a Santa Claus house. Chief Justice Burger, writing for the court majority, found the Nativity scene to be a "passive" symbol and its presence in the display "no more an advancement or endorsement of religion than...the exhibition of literally hundreds of religious paintings in governmentally supported museums." Said Burger: "We are unable to perceive the Archbishop...
...scholars, last week's decision on the Pawtucket crèche was a new departure by the court in interpreting the First Amendment ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."). Writing for the 5-4 majority, Chief Justice Warren Burger seemed to argue that the traditional guidelines-that a law must serve a secular purpose, neither advance nor inhibit religion, and not entangle the state in purely religious questions-were merely "useful," rather than mandatory. "A more flexible standard may be emerging," says U.S. Solicitor General...