Day: February 4, 2026

Professor Nelson Tebbe traced four eras in Supreme Court church–state jurisprudence, from post-war pluralism and mid-century separationism to deferentialism after 1990 and today’s emerging regime of “preferentialism.” He argued that the current Roberts Court weakens the Establishment Clause while strengthening the Free Exercise Clause in ways that systematically favor religious actors, illustrated by recent cases like Carson v. Makin and Kennedy v. Bremerton. He closed by tying these doctrinal shifts to political polarization and demographic change, predicting further consolidation of this new paradigm, including potential funding of religious charter schools and ongoing ethical and institutional questions about the justices’ religious and professional networks.