Word: menorahs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Even in a state budget crisis there are huge white lights hanging from almost every tree in Boston Common, where sleigh rides take weary shoppers on a snowless ride through the city's center. A Christmas tree and menorah keep up the pretense of holiday cheer inside the gold-topped State House, where carollers sing while a weary legislature trims a budget rather than a tree...
Christmas came under sharp scrutiny last week at the U.S. Supreme Court, and some groups got coal in their stockings. In a ruling that confused more Americans than it enlightened, the Justices held that the annual display of a Jewish Hanukkah menorah next to a Christmas tree outside Pittsburgh's City- County building was constitutional; yet in the same decision, they concluded that a Catholic-sponsored creche depicting the Nativity in the county courthouse one block away was not. The tenuous principle governing the decision seemed to be the so-called reindeer rule, suggested in 1984 by the court...
Such hairsplitting is sure to keep judges, local politicians, priests and rabbis scratching their heads over Yuletide and Hanukkah dos and don'ts for many holidays to come. But far more than cradles and reindeer is at stake after last week's decision. The creche and menorah case, County of Allegheny v. A.C.L.U., saw the emergence of an outspoken bloc of four conservative Justices, just one vote shy of a majority, who are openly intent on challenging long-established views on the separation between church and state. The creche dissent in the Allegheny decision brought together Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin...
...more vote -- perhaps a Bush appointment to the court -- would give these Justices the clout to undo 40 years of church-state law on everything from school prayer to public aid for church agencies. For now, the swing vote belongs to Sandra Day O'Connor, who voted for the menorah and against the creche last week...
...other cases in which decisions are pending includes an important church-state dispute from Pittsburgh focusing on holiday displays of a Christmas Nativity scene and a Hanukkah menorah at government buildings...