Marbury v. Madison is the quintessential, if not cliche way to start any discussion about the Supreme Court and the cases that it has dealt with over the years. However, to its detriment, it is boring. No disrespect, but the honest truth is that the application to our everyday lives or even our everyday interests does not exist when reading the case (unless you are a Supreme Court fan like myself).
That is why I bring up what is hopefully the first of many Constitutional issues that will be discussed on this site: religion. I chose this because it is one of the more contentious issues that comes before the court. Religion plays and important role in our country whether people like it or not. It is often taught that the first settlers came to escape religious persecution. References to god exist on any number of government documents and in government buildings. If nothing else, religion permeates nearly every American life at some point. That is why I've chosen it to as the first of topics.
The Constitution actually only mentions religion once in Article VI.
"no religious Test shall every be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
The subject of religion came up only briefly during the Constitution convention, but some delegates did criticize that the Constitution failed to protect the right to freely exercising religion. In response, the Bill of Rights included TWO provisions. The free exercise and establishment clauses. They read:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
A few points to leave you with are:
1. What is religion? What qualifies a belief as a religion that deserves protection?
2. How strict should the establishment clause be read? Is having the word "god" on the U.S. dollar an establishment of religion?
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