The Religious-Question Doctrine: This essay argues that the source of judicial inconsistency in applying the U.S. religious-question doctrine is confusion about whether the doctrine protects a free-exercise right held by religious individuals and groups against government interference, or is instead an anti-establishment immunity stemming from a structural disability on government (and especially judicial) action with respect to questions of religious belief and practice. Useful for teasing out these two clauses of the First Amendment and their relevance for developing court actions.
