Amid the tumult engulfing the White House and Congress, one easily loses sight of ominous developments emanating from the third branch of government. But the judiciary has been busy, and civil rights and civil liberties are under assault on many fronts. One of those fronts is the separation of church and state.
At the end of June, the Supreme Court concluded its term with a major decision mandating direct government financial support of churches. And on the same day it issued that ruling, the court accepted for review a dispute—over a wedding cake—that concerns the extent to which businesses have a religion-based constitutional right to refuse to cater to same-sex couples, raising the prospect of reigniting the conflicts of the 1950s and 1960s over the integration of restaurants, hotels, clubs, and other public accommodations.
