United States Supreme Court (1984) Associate Justice William Hubbs Rehnquist, in his dissenting opinion in the case of Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 92, 99, 107 (1984), stated:
<It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine upon a mistaken understanding of Constitutional history....The establishment clause had been expressly freighted with Jefferson's misleading metaphor for nearly forty years....
There is simply no historical foundation for the proposition that the framers intended to build a wall of separation [between church and state]....The recent court decisions are in no way based on either the language or intent of the framers....
But the greatest injury of the "wall" notion is its mischievous diversion of judges from the actual intentions of the drafters of the Bill of Rights....The
"wall of separation between church and State" is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.> 1984US001
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
1984US001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). United States Supreme Court, 1984, Associate Justice William Hubbs Rehnquist, in his dissenting opinion in the case of Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 92, 99, 107 (1984). "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 8.