Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court

Vincent Phillip Munoz is the Tocqueville Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Munoz writes and teaches across the fields of constitutional law, American politics, and political philosophy.

"Vincent Phillip Muñoz’s Religious Liberty and the American Supreme Court is by far the best single collection of Supreme Court cases on the religion clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Muñoz’s editorial work on abridging the opinions, as well as his brief introductory comments for each case, are masterfully done. I have used this book as a required text since the first edition appeared in 2011. Unlike traditional case law books—which are dominated by commentary and black-letter law—Muñoz’s text consists almost entirely of just the cases themselves. This allows students to explore the Court’s many opinions unburdened by some overarching theory or point of view that the editor or author thinks they should embrace. This also permits instructors a lot of leeway in crafting their syllabi and introducing students to secondary sources.”

• Cases by Subject MatterNotes on the TextAcknowledgmentsIntroductionI. CASES1. Reynolds v. United States (1879)2. Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States (1892)3. Bradfield v. Roberts(1899)4. Cantwell v. State of Connecticut (1940)5. Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940)6. Jones v. Opelika; Bowden v. FortSmith; Jobin v. Arizona (1942)7. Murdock v. Pennsylvania (City of Jeannette) (1943)8. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)9. Follett v. Town of McCormick (1944)10. Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township (1947)11. Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education (1948)12. Zorach v. Clauson (1952)13. Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)14. Braunfeld v. Brown (1961)15. Engel v. Vitale (1962)16. Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)17. Sherbert v. Verner (1963)18. United States v. Seeger (1965)19. Board of Education v. Allen (1968)20. Epperson v. Arkansas (1968)21. Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York (1970)22. Welsh v. United States (1970)23. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)24. Tilton v. Richardson (1971)25. Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)26. Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty v. Nyquist (1973)27. McDaniel v. Paty (1978)28. Stone v. Graham (1980)29. Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division (1981)30. Widmar v. Vincent (1981)31. United States v. Lee (1982)32. Bob Jones University v. United States (1983)33. Mueller v. Allen (1983)34. Marsh v. Chambers (1983)35. Lynch v. Donnelly (1984)36. Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)37. Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind (1986)38. Goldman v. Weinberger (1986)39. Edwards v. Aguillard (1987)40. Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Amos (1987)41. Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association (1988)42. Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock (1989)43. County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, Greater Pittsburgh Chapter (1989)44. Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (1990)45. Board of Education of the Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (1990)46. Lee v. Weisman (1992)47. Lamb’s Chapeland John Steigerwald v. Center Moriches Union Free School District (1993)48. Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah (1993)49. Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District (1993)50. Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board v. Pinette (1995)51. Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995)52. Agostini v. Felton (1997)53. City of Boerne v. Flores (1997)54. Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000)55. Mitchell v. Helms (2000)56. Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001)57. Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)58. Locke v. Davey (2004)59. Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2004)60. Van Orden v. Perry (2005)61. McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (2005)62. Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (2010)63. Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn (2011)64. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2012)65. Town of Greece, NewYork v. Galloway (2014)66. Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores (2014)67. Trinity Lutheran v. Comer (2017)68. Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)69. American Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019)70. Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020)71. Our Lady of Guadalupe v. Morrissey-Berru (2020)72. Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021)73. Shurtleff v. City of Boston (2022)74. Carson v. Makin (2022)75. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022)76. Catholic Charites Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission (2025)77. Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025)II. HISTORICAL DOCUMENTSA. A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia (1777,1786)Thomas JeffersonB. Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments (1785)James MadisonC. Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 and Barnes v. Falmouth (1810)D. Records of the First Congress Pertaining to the Drafting of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment (1789)E. Letter to the Annual Meeting of Quakers (1789)George WashingtonF. Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport (1790)George WashingtonG. Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association (1802)Thomas Jefferson