Study

The field of law and religion is more unsettled now than it has been in nearly a century, because the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected core doctrines that have long governed both the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses. And with the Court’s elimination or questioning of the settled legal doctrines, Congress, state legislatures, and public officials at all levels are testing the bounds of the law. Because church–state legal doctrine has now been unmade but in important respects not yet remade, it can be hard to understand even what the legal questions are—much less how they might be answered—without some historical grounding. Viewing the cases and doctrinal developments as a dialog over time rather than taking each issue that arises within church–state law separately offers coherence to this rich but confusing area of the law. With those concerns in mind, and with the aim to get to the cutting-edge church–state controversies that are currently in the courts and in the public eye, this seminar will focus on the intersection between religion and education. LLMs must have instructor permission to enroll.

Special Notes:

*New*

Spring 2026

Course Number	Course Credits	Evaluation Method	Instructor
782.01	2	Reflective Writing Research and/or analytical paper(s), 10-15 pages	Richard Katskee
Canvas site: https://canvas.duke.edu/courses/75736