Supreme Meme
The idea: Post about (one of) your favorite Supreme Court decisions. (Not necessarily your favorite because you agree, but for any reason.) Why? To publicize decisions other than Roe v. Wade. Why? Allegedly that's the only one Sarah Palin knows. Plus, constitutional law! What could be more fun.
I snagged this meme from ert, because honest to God, I really do have a favorite Supreme Court case!
Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993): A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held unconstitutional an ordinance passed in Hialeah, Florida that forbade the "unnecessar[y]" killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption." Hialeah enacted the law as soon as they found out that this church, which practices Santeria, was planning on moving there. The court found the law unconstitutional for a few reasons that I don't really understand anymore, but yay religious freedom!
First of all, this is a case about crazy voodoo people--what's not to love? This case was discussed in my senior year AP US Government class, and I never forgot it. Several months after its brief mention in class, an essay question came up on a test and I was able to base my answer around this case (I don't remember, but looking at wikipedia I'm betting it was a question about the rational basis test). My teacher had obviously meant for us to use some other, specific, more recently taught case for the essay, but I argued it properly and answered the question correctly, so he had to give me full points. I could tell he was cheesed about it, too. I later went on to get a 2 on the AP Government test, my lowest-ever AP score, so this case was literally the only thing I took away from that class. (Other than a story about my teacher, driving 90 MPH to try to return a video to Blockbuster before midnight, getting pulled over for speeding, and contesting the ticket in court because he's a government teacher and likes things like that.)
I snagged this meme from ert, because honest to God, I really do have a favorite Supreme Court case!
Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993): A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held unconstitutional an ordinance passed in Hialeah, Florida that forbade the "unnecessar[y]" killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption." Hialeah enacted the law as soon as they found out that this church, which practices Santeria, was planning on moving there. The court found the law unconstitutional for a few reasons that I don't really understand anymore, but yay religious freedom!
First of all, this is a case about crazy voodoo people--what's not to love? This case was discussed in my senior year AP US Government class, and I never forgot it. Several months after its brief mention in class, an essay question came up on a test and I was able to base my answer around this case (I don't remember, but looking at wikipedia I'm betting it was a question about the rational basis test). My teacher had obviously meant for us to use some other, specific, more recently taught case for the essay, but I argued it properly and answered the question correctly, so he had to give me full points. I could tell he was cheesed about it, too. I later went on to get a 2 on the AP Government test, my lowest-ever AP score, so this case was literally the only thing I took away from that class. (Other than a story about my teacher, driving 90 MPH to try to return a video to Blockbuster before midnight, getting pulled over for speeding, and contesting the ticket in court because he's a government teacher and likes things like that.)