The Culture Wartime President

Abortion is the focal point of most outspoken activists on either side of the Supreme Court nomination contest, but the Court's split Ten Commandments decisions highlight another issue that might very well be resolved by the appointment of O'Connor's replacement. I've got some thoughts on this subject, and on the Van Orden and McCreary decisions themselves, but first some interesting linkage on the topic broadly.

First, Noah Leavitt reviewed two books on Church-State relations for Findlaw recently. He begins with a reference to de Tocqueville, but don't let that stop you from reading it. Elsewhere, another Noah (Feldman) proposes a solution to the Church-State problem. Since I hate people linking to articles everybody has read already, I also want to point out that Jack Balkin posted a response to the proposal on Balkinization, to which Feldman has responded on SCOTUSblog.