Antonin Scalia's establishment clause jurisprudence

In his twenty-five years on the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia has been thought of as a rigorous originalist, but he adds tradition to balance textualism toward accessing the original meaning of the text rather than strictly interpreting the text alone. Here, an expose of the First Amendment, which separates religion and state matters, reveals Scalia's consistency in applying a nuanced textualism. This work is an explanatory model of and a descriptive essay on the current debate surrounding Justice Scalia's impact regarding the religion clauses since his appointment to the high bench. In a general sense, it illustrates originalism as represented by Justice Scalia. In a narrower sense, this work analyzes originalism through Justice Scalia's jurisprudence in relation to the religion clauses in the First Amendment and evaluate whether such rulings are consistent with the philosophical foundations of that very amendment.;The specific goals of this work are to comprehensively overview the Supreme Court cases addressing the establishment clause and the free exercise clause and to investigate whether Justice Scalia uses a specific pattern in applying originalism. The observed cases for which Scalia authored an opinion illustrate that, on the topic of religion-clause cases, Scalia grants consistency to his originalism through constitutional text and societal tradition.;Ultimately, Scalia's rulings are rooted in promoting judicial tact and self-control. Despite being castigated as rigid, sarcastic, and out of touch, he faithfully embraces every intellectual means to clarify his stance of the people and the Constitution over his personal views. Scalia has consistently ruled and applied his originalism to cases involving the establishment clause. Yet the impact of his establishment-clause jurisprudence upon his Court colleagues is mixed. Despite Scalia's consistent rendering of the text of the First Amendment, it is evident that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's application of the establishment clause still commands authority. Scalia has not single-handedly changed establishment clause jurisprudence, but his influence has been felt and will most likely continue to have an impact on the tension of church and state rulings.