Throughout American history, legal battles concerning the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberty have been among the most contentious issue of the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court: The Essential Cases and Documents represents the most authoritative and up-to-date overview of the landmark cases that have defined religious freedom in America. Noted religious liberty expert Vincent Philip Munoz (Notre Dame) provides carefully edited excerpts from over fifty of the most important Supreme Court religious liberty cases. In addition, Munoz’s substantive introduction offers an overview on the constitutional history of religious liberty in America. Introductory headnotes to each case provides the constitutional and historical context. Religious Liberty and the American Constitution will be an indispensable resource for anyone interested matters of religious freedom from the Republics earliest days to current debates.

"The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”; and most citizens take this amendment very seriously. This volume looks at 64 Supreme Court cases, from 1879 to 2012, where the separation of church and state comes into question. Each entry opens with the vote and a narrative description of the case, followed by excerpts from primary sources. Seven additional historical documents include Thomas Jefferson’s 'A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia,' from 1786, and George Washington’s 'Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport,' from 1790. A thorough index and a supplemental table of contents of cases by subject matter offer easy navigation. Recommended for most public and academic libraries." - Booklist

"Religious liberty has become an increasingly contentious issue in the US in recent years. Most works that address the issue though, take the form of polemic from one perspective or another. In this volume, however, editor Muñoz, a professor of political science and law at the University of Notre Dame, presents a very exhaustive compendium of large excerpts from the actual landmark Supreme Court cases on religious liberty. The introduction largely concerns the two parts of the First Amendment, the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. It discusses important cases bearing on both aspects of the Amendment such as Everson v. Board of Education (1947) where the concept of the 'wall of separation' between church and state originated and Employment Division v. Smith (1990), which tested the limits of the Free Exercise Clause. After this, the book is divided into two sections. In the first there are 64 cases, arranged in chronological order from Reynolds v. United States in 1879 to Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2012. For each case there is a brief introduction which begins with the names of the justices involved, how they voted, and the authorship of the various opinions on the case. There is also a discussion of the background and context of each case here. The second section presents seven vital historical documents on religious liberty by authors such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. There is also a helpful table that lists every case categorized by subject matter. This volume is an essential reference on the way the view of the Supreme Court on religious liberty has evolved through time. Both lawyers and the layman will find it valuable." - Book News, Inc.