What the founding generation understood as an establishment of religion is a legal question to be decided by a court, not a “fact” question to be decided by experts, no matter how credentialed. To be sure, courts must make a determined effort to grasp the relevant history bearing on that legal question. Hilsenrath, 136 F.4th at 491 (“This kind of historical inquiry requires serious work.” (citation omitted)); McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742, 803 (2010) (Thomas, J., concurring) (noting “[h]istorical analysis can be difficult”). See generally Heller, 554 U.S. at 592–95, 600–03, 605–19. They do so by consulting articles, books, and historical sources and bringing their own independent judgment to bear on them—not by appointing an “expert,” whose “findings” are insulated by clear-error review on appeal.57 _________________

And then, in one last bizarre twist, the Court says that judges aren't allowed to ask experts in history about questions of history, because experts impact "independent judgment."

Brb going to scream.

But this principle has no application to government use of religious language or symbolism. See Lynch, 465 U.S. at 687 n.13 (declining to apply denominational preference cases to city crèche). Nor could it. Consider the cities of Corpus Christi, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Fe, San Jose, St. Augustine, and Sacramento, to name just a few. Do those names represent “denominational discrimination”? Or take our national motto. See 36 U.S.C. § 302 (“In God We Trust”). Does it show “favoritism” for monotheism over polytheism?

The Fifth Circuit says religious freedom doesn't apply to religious symbols posted by the government because place names exist.

I am not joking.

That is what they said.

Moreover, Plaintiffs have not identified a shred of founding-era evidence equating the government’s use of religious text, displays, or symbols with an establishment of religion. To the contrary, it appears that no one “ever claimed at the founding that the display of religious symbols was a form of religious establishment.” Chapman & McConnell,

See, the Ten Commandments in schools isn't coercive because that's not what the Founders considered coercive.

And then, we get to the most remarkable and batshit part of this whole opinion.

(Incorporation is the legal principle that the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, applies to the States as well as the Federal government. The Fifth Circuit pretends this is not a thing.)

But somehow, it then gets even worse.

The key phrase—“an establishment of religion”—was readily understandable to founding-era citizens. See District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 576–77 (2008) (relying on a phrase’s “[n]ormal meaning . . . known to ordinary citizens in the founding generation”). The reason is simple. At the time, establishments were “a familiar institution.” McConnell, Establishment, supra note 12, at 2107.13 Someone on the streets of 1789 Boston, reading that phrase, would have instantly thought of the Church of England, the colonial established churches, or the current state establishments—in other words, a polity’s official church or religion. Ibid.

Although the colonial establishments became more tolerant of dissenters as independence approached, their essence remained unchanged. The original state constitutions reflect as much. Far from rejecting establishments, many states preserved the core components of their establishments, such as public financial support for the official church, regulation of religious institutions, and religious qualifications for civic participation.36 Most explicit was South Carolina, whose 1778 Constitution declared that “the Christian Protestant religion” was “the established religion,” requiring religious societies to subscribe to enumerated articles of faith to receive legal recognition. S.C. Const. of 1778, art. XXXVIII, reprinted in Poore, State Constitutions, supra note 36, at 1626.

The Fifth Circuit flatly states that when the First Amendment says Congress may not create an "establishment of religion," it means the Church of England. They then argue the Founders intended states to have their own churches unaffected by the First Amendment (!!!).

oh my ghoooood

jfc 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦

*throws a ffking table*

A lot about the world is very heavy right now but if a college football podcast that got jettisoned by Vox during the pandemic for not having a marketable audience can raise this much money for refugees in Atlanta in two days then just think of all the stuff we can all do together

Images not rendering right now are actually such an incredible use case for ALT text and a great way to experience what it’s like to want to participate while not being able to see.

If Darth hadn’t included ALT you’d have no idea what this was.

My most liberal idpol radlib take is that I think it's pretty bad that
right wing forces are actively intervening on behalf of the Klan with the full weight of the state legal apparatus

The USA continues its long tradition of murdering civilians and then labeling them criminals to justify policy, exploits, and expansion.

I donated and I hope others do as well!

It seems to me that the necessary teshuva for a culture where networks and connections are used to enable rape and abuse is to instead build networks and connections that facilitate justice and care and protection.

I'm not saying your cozy slice-of-life RPG is obligated to have a full-featured tactical combat system or anything, but if its rules don't so much as contemplate the possibility of a player character getting punted into a lake and spending a month in convalescence, you're leaving money on the table.

The issue with many "cozy" games is they're so vibes-focused, they lose sight of the CONTENT of the media they're emulating. Yes, "The Wind in the Willows" involves sitting around drinking tea, but it also includes such heartwarming episodes as "Mr. Toad steals a car" and "Rat and Mole meet God".

"62 million men" —the way this has been generally glossed — is a seemingly intractible and unmanageable problem you can't hope to fight. 1000 people is 1,000 too many, but it's also a small enough number that you could concievably get them all arrested.

bunch of shitheads apoplectic because it's no longer acceptable to treat women and other marginalized people like objects and second-class humans, whose increasingly frantic demand for the comforts of their adolescence to be returned to them sounding more like calls for blood in the streets each day

Well I had a potential job offer falter so if you want to help me with rent and food I could use the help. Check out the link and thank you for your time

'SWIMS' upside down is still 'SWIMS.'

it's been a full decade at this point and we're still finding people who think it's a good idea to make ironic hats that makes you look like a maga dipshit to anyone too far away to read the actual words

"what if they're not talking to me because im annoying" what if they're not talking to you because they're busy or tired or at work or really want to talk to you but can't think of anything or are really excited to talk to you but they're worried you'll find them annoying.

I have many, many things to say about this, as someone who runs a media outlet

Like... the moment you do something like this is the moment you lose everything, because it's so cartoonishly evil that you can't even BEGIN to fathom the harms it will do to real, passionate, hard-working people.

This means killing people like me. If you’re wondering.

RFK Jr. just said that immigration is to blame for the outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S., not him.

bring back ipods.

Beth worked as a doctor for years until a transphobe turned up. Now, she's had to leave her job, leave her home, move to the other side of the world and is still being hounded and harassed by the media and cult.

She did nothing but exist as trans in the orbit of Sandie Peggie.

toxic masculinity is a pillar of white supremacy! it’s a poison don’t succumb to it imo just accept childless uncle into your life and tear down the idea of masculinity never touching nurture. community is everything

Sexual misconduct by lawmakers is widespread — but often goes unreported New data from the nonprofit National Women’s Defense League, shared first with The 19th, comes on the heels of the resignations of two members of Congress.

Exclusive: new research from the National Women’s Defense League and shared first with The 19th, has tracked 30 allegations of workplace sexual misconduct against members of Congress made since 2006 — a number the report’s authors say is likely 3-4x higher in reality 19thnews.org/2026/04/sexu...

surely no army in military history has ever been laid low by disease, a famously uncommon problem among people living in enforced close quarters

Congress thinks my college is failing on antisemitism. My Jewish students disagree A new House report on campus antisemitism seems to have involved minimal engagement with actual Jews at actual universities

You would think that if the House Committee on Education really wanted to document campus antisemitism and not just make examples out of us, they would speak to the sole Jewish Studies professor at one of the schools they were studying. They didn't, so I wrote about it. forward.com/opinion/8197...

And by that same token, education in the US as it stands today is also by no means a guarantee of being politically astute. I've seen PhDs and folks with all kinds of graduate degrees fall for easily debunked propaganda because it was in the New York Times.