Journal article
An Expressive Jurisprudence of the Establishment Clause
Penn State Law Review, Vol.112, pp.77-1167
01 Jul 2007
Abstract
I. Introduction Scholars recognize that government acts are expressive; that is, they affect the "social meaning" of behavior. 1 Nowhere are the expressive effects of government acts more significant than when they affect an individual's understanding of her ability to practice her religion. When government allows a creche to be placed on public property or provides educational vouchers that are used primarily at religious schools, its acts send signals to the population about what the community and the government prefer. 2 As Justice O'Connor has observed, a religious symbol displayed on government property carries a message that affects one's understanding of him or herself as an "insider" or "outsider," favored or disfavored by the political community. 3 Yet while scholars have recognized that Establishment Clause cases are best understood as analyzing government's expressive acts, 4 they have yet to develop a comprehensive theory of just how government acts actually express particular meanings. Without such a theory, efforts to develop a meaningful Establishment Clause jurisprudence remain unsuccessful. The purpose of this article is to provide such an expressive theory. The article turns to both social and cognitive psychology to develop a model of expressive effects based on the way in which government acts affect beliefs about one's relationship to community or government. This belief-change theory suggests that the primary means by which government acts can affect belief is through the process of inference. When the government places a creche on public property, for example, such an act can ...
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Details
- Title
- An Expressive Jurisprudence of the Establishment Clause
- Creators
- Alex GeisingerIvan E. Bodensteiner
- Publication Details
- Penn State Law Review, Vol.112, pp.77-1167
- Publisher
- Dickinson School of Law Penn State Law Review
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Identifiers
- 991020542595804721