| − | The greatest damage done by the Warren Court was probably its decision banning official school prayer in public school, which had existed for hundreds of years. The Lord's Prayer was being said daily in New Jersey public schools, for example, which many students' grandparents might recall. In ''Engel v. Vitale'' (1962), the Warren Court prohibited this and public schools have been declining ever since; some consider this decision to have been the worst since the ''Dred Scott'' case just before the Civil War. | + | The greatest damage done by the Warren Court was probably its decision banning official school prayer in public school, which had existed for hundreds of years. The Lord's Prayer was being said daily in New Jersey public schools, for example, which many students' grandparents might recall. In ''Engel v. Vitale'' (1962), the Warren Court prohibited this and public schools have been declining ever since; some consider this decision to have been the worst since the ''Dred Scott'' case just before the Civil War. |
| | + | Justice Hugo Black, who became known for his judicial hostility to religion and pro-pornography rulings, wrote the ''Engel v. Vitale'' decision and cited only one precedent (prior judicial authority) in it: a previous decision Justice Black himself had written (''Everson v. Board of Education''). A study published by ''U.S. News & World Report'' found that in 71 cases before the Supreme Court concerning communists, Justice Black held in favor of the communists every single time.<ref>Phyllis Schlafly, "The Supremacists," p. 151 (2006).</ref> |
| | Less well known, but also influential, were the deceptively named "one man, one vote" decisions by the Warren Court, which interfered with the structure of state legislatures. Since the ratification of the Constitution, States had their own legislatures that were modeled after Congress, with one chamber or body based on population (like the House), and the other based on geography (like the Senate). This worked well for over 150 years. But the Warren Court decided it did not like that structure, even though Congress uses it. In ''Baker v. Carr'' (1962) and ''Reynolds v. Sims'' (1964), the United States Supreme Court ruled that state legislative districts must be redrawn to be equal in population, and natural geographic lines caused by rivers or county lines should be ignored in order to draw legislative districts equal in population. The Warren Court held that ''both'' state legislatures and all their legislative districts must be based on equal populations of voters, which it expected would have a liberal effect by giving cities greater influence. The result is difficult-to-understand and ever-changing district boundaries (due to population shifts) that render most citizens unaware of who their representatives really are. The Warren Court could not change the structure of Congress because it is expressly established by the U.S. Constitution. | | Less well known, but also influential, were the deceptively named "one man, one vote" decisions by the Warren Court, which interfered with the structure of state legislatures. Since the ratification of the Constitution, States had their own legislatures that were modeled after Congress, with one chamber or body based on population (like the House), and the other based on geography (like the Senate). This worked well for over 150 years. But the Warren Court decided it did not like that structure, even though Congress uses it. In ''Baker v. Carr'' (1962) and ''Reynolds v. Sims'' (1964), the United States Supreme Court ruled that state legislative districts must be redrawn to be equal in population, and natural geographic lines caused by rivers or county lines should be ignored in order to draw legislative districts equal in population. The Warren Court held that ''both'' state legislatures and all their legislative districts must be based on equal populations of voters, which it expected would have a liberal effect by giving cities greater influence. The result is difficult-to-understand and ever-changing district boundaries (due to population shifts) that render most citizens unaware of who their representatives really are. The Warren Court could not change the structure of Congress because it is expressly established by the U.S. Constitution. |