Release date: June 28, 2005
Contact: Elaine Justice, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0643 or elaine.justice@emory.edu

Emory Law Experts Comment on Recent Supreme Court Opinions

Legal experts at Emory University School of Law are available to comment on the latest end-of-term opinions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on topics ranging from displays of the Ten Commandments to private property/eminent domain and domestic violence.

The Supreme Court's decisions in the so-called Ten Commandments cases spell out an 11th commandment adopted by the jurists: Thou Shall Not Get Caught Advancing Religion in a Coercive Manner, says Michael Broyde, academic director of Emory's Center for the Study of Law and Religion. He says the opinions issued in the two cases make it clear that even in a courthouse, the Commandments may be displayed when the context doesn't create an endorsement. 404-727-7546, mbroyde@law.emory.edu

John Witte, director of Emory's Center for the Study of Law and Religion and one of the nation's foremost legal historians, says that the split decisions in the Ten Commandments cases—McCreary County, Kentucky v. ACLU and Van Orden v. Perry—guarantee that there will continue to be healthy experiments on the proper boundaries between church and state. He says the decisions, which turn on intent of religious expression, reveal the strength of our constitutional form of government. 404-727-0680, jwitte@law.emory.edu (Available by e-mail only June 29-July 5.)

Constitutional law professor Robert Schapiro can comment on a variety of recent opinions including the private property/eminent domain case Kelo v. City of New London, the domestic violence case Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, the jurisdiction cases Ortega v. Star-Kist Foods Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Allapattah Services Inc., and water rights case Orff v. United States. Schapiro served as clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. 404-727-1103, rschapir@law.emory.edu

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