{"product_id":"foreordained-failure-the-quest-for-a-constitutional-principle-of-religious-freedom-9780195132489","title":"Foreordained Failure: The Quest for a Constitutional Principle of Religious Freedom","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Steven D. Smith\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Oxford University Press\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Oxford University Press\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Legal History\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEver since the Supreme Court began enforcing the First Amendment's religion clauses in the 1940s, courts and scholars have tried to distill the meaning of those clauses into a useable principle of religious freedom. In this highly original work, Smith criticizes the main positions in the debate and explains their misconceptions. He argues that efforts to find a principle of religious freedom in the \"original meaning\" are fruitless because the clauses were purely jurisdictional in nature: they were meant to place authority over questions of religion with the states, and nothing more. Contending that the perennial quest to distill religious freedom into a \"principle,\" is futile, Smith advocates a fundamental reassessment of the premises upon which courts have proceeded in this area.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47614577442967,"sku":"9780195132489","price":6481.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780195132489.webp?v=1775094719","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/foreordained-failure-the-quest-for-a-constitutional-principle-of-religious-freedom-9780195132489","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}