A Legal Fantasy: Marylanders for Tolerance Now! v Maryland State Administrative Board of Election Laws and American Citizens for Tolerance Now! v Federal Election Commission

Abstract

The following article is a creative thought-experiment. I hypothesize that a group of religious believers forms a religious political party, which I call the Christian Democratic Party. As the party begins to succeed, alarmed citizens bring suit to stop it, challenging its right to exist in our constitutional system. I imagine that the case comes to the Supreme Court, and I present the hypothetical majority and minority opinions of the Court. Before I present the case, however, I should set the stage. According to some commentators, the United States is in the midst of a full-blown “culture war” between the forces of traditional religion and militant secularism. Contemporary American politics— matching the definition of politics as “war by other means”— would seem to confirm this analysis. Recent election studies demonstrate that the Republican and Democratic parties are becoming increasingly defined by core constituencies of religious conservatives and secularist liberals. There is a growing recognition that religious differences constitute a significant factor in the voting behavior of many Americans.