Protection for Rights of Conscience in
American Law: First Rights or Last Rites?
Notes
1. Professor Wardle has written about and
taught about legal issues concerning biomedical ethics and related subjects
for over twenty-five years. He currently is a member of the Advisory Board
of The Protection of Conscience Project, and
of the Advisory Board of Americans
United for Life Legal Defense and Education Fund, and formerly served as
a national director on the Board of
Directors of the National Right to Life Committee. Parts of this paper
reflect research done for "For the Sake of Conscience": The Case for Legal
Exemptions for Religious Objectors, a paper I presented at The Catholic
University of American conference on Diverse Visions in American Health
Care: Conflict, Conscience and the Law in April 2003 (conference publication
pending). Copyright Lynn D. Wardle, Provo, UT, 2006.
2. See generally Maureen K. Bailey, Contraceptive
Insurance Mandates and Catholic Charities v. Superior Court of Sacramento:
Towards a New Understanding of Women's Health, 9 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 367
(2005); Maureen Kramlich, The Abortion Debate Thirty Years Later: From
Choice to Coercion, 31 Fordham Urb. L.J., 781 (2004); Susan Berke Fogel &
Lourdes A. Rivera, Saving Roe Is Not Enough: When Religion Controls
Healthcare, 31 Fordham Urb. L.J. 725, 727 (2004); Brietta R. Clark, When
Free Exercise Exemptions Undermine Religious Liberty and the Liberty of
Conscience: A Case Study of the Catholic Hospital Conflict, 82 Or. L. Rev.
625 (2003); William W. Bassett, Private Religious Hospitals: Limitations on
Autonomous Moral Choices in Reproductive Medicine, 17 J. Contemp. Health L.
& Pol'y 445 (2001); Judith F. Daar, A Clash at the Bedside: Patient Autonomy
v. A Physician's Professional Conscience, 44Hastings L.J. 1241 (1993); Lynn
D. Wardle, Protecting the Rights of Conscience of Health Care Providers, 14
J. Legal Med. 177-230 (1993); see also Amy Gutmann, Religious Freedom and
Civic Responsibility, 56 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 907 (1999); Philip A.
Hamburger, A Constitutional Right of Religious Exemption: An Historical
Perspective, 60 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 915, 916 (1992); Gerard V. Bradley,
Beguiled: Free Exercise Exemptions and the Siren Song of Liberalism, 20
Hofstra L. Rev. 245 (1991); Douglas W. Kmiec, The Original Understanding of
the Free Exercise Clause and Religious Diversity, 59 UMKC L. Rev. 591
(1991); Michael W. McConnell, The Origins and Historical Understanding of
Free Exercise of Religion, 103 Harv. L. Rev. 1409 (1990); see further Bryan
A. Dykes, Note, Proposed Rights of Conscience Legislationi: Expanding to
Include Pharmacists and other Health Care Providers, 36 Ga. L. Rev. 565, 565
(2002); Jason M. Kellhofer, Note, The Misperception and Misapplication of
the First Amendment in the American Pluralistic System: Mergers Between
Catholic and Non-Catholic Health Care Systems, 16 J. L. & Health 103
(2001-02); Irene Prior Loftus, Note, I Have A Conscience, Too: The Plight of
Medical Personnel Confronting the Right to Die, 65 Notre Dame L. Rev. 699,
718 (1990). See further infra note __ (citations to other articles, etc.).
3.NCSL's
Top Ten Legislative Issues Forecast For 2006, NCSL News, Dec. 29, 2005,
at *7 (seen December 29, 2005).
4. The NCSL notes that a bond measure that will be on
the ballot in 2006 in Illinois seeks $1 billion for stem cell research; in
2005 Connecticut approved $100 million in funding for embryonic stem cell
research; both Indiana and Virginia created adult stem cell research centers
in 2005. Id. One organization, through information provided by an
outraged employee
has dozens of order forms from researchers requesting fetal parts, price
lists for fetal organs and tissue, and donation consent forms for women
undergoing abortion. It offers a gruesome glimpse at a vast trade in human
tissue from babies that are aborted, and sometimes vivisected, to satiate
the exploding multibillion-dollar biotechnology industry.
. . . The research itself is usually for laudable goals, from helping
prenatal infants survive to curing Parkinson's disease. But the trade, worth
billions, raises myriad ethical questions: Are some humans being killed to
benefit others? Are women being exploited to support tissue collection? Who
is profiting from the trade? And what are the social implications of its
existence?"
Celeste McGovern,Secrets
of the Dead-Baby Industry *2 (seen December 19, 2005), (reprinted fromAlberta
Report Newsmagazine, Aug. 23, 1999 (emphasis added).
5. See generally Bailey, supra note __, at 373, n. 31.
The District of Columbia City Council passed a similar mandate with no
exemption, but it was blocked by Congress.
6. See Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc. v.
Superior Court of Sacramento County, 85 P.3d 67 (Calif. 2004), cert. denied
125 U.S. 53 (2004).
7. Heather Rae Skeeles, Note, Patient Autonomy Versus
Religious Freedom: Should State Legislatures Require Catholic Hospitals to
Provide Emergency Contraception to Rape Victims, 60 Wash. & Lee L. Rev.
1007, 1017 (2003) (listing seven states); see infra note 9 and accompanying
text (discussing new Massachusetts law).
8.Mass.
Gov. Romney Withdraws Plan to Exempt Private Hospitals From Law Requiring EC
Access For Rape Survivors, Medical News Today, Dec. 14, 2005, (seen
December 29, 2005) (the law "requires hospital emergency departments to
offer emergency contraception [hybrid abortifacient] to rape survivors" and
"allows pharmacists to dispense the drug to women of all ages without a
doctor's prescription." Id.).
9. Id. James Joyner, Mitt Romney:Why
I Vetoed Contraceptions Bill, Outside the Beltway, July 26, 2005,
available at (seen December 29, 2005).
10.Pharmacist
Laws and Legislation: Laws and Legislation, Updated June 2005 (seen
December 29, 2005) (herein "NCSL-Pharmacists".
11. Id. NCSL-Pharmacists at 2, 4-5. California
would allow some exceptions. Another bill introduced in California, however,
proposed to protect the rights of conscience of pharmacists to refuse to
distribute emergency hybrid contraceptive/abortifacients.
12. See Office of the Governor, News,Gov.
Blagojevich takes emergency action to protect women's access to
contraceptives, April 1, 2005(seen December 29, 2005) ("Responding to
recent complaints filed against a licensed Illinois pharmacy that refused to
dispense prescription contraceptives, Gov. Rod Blagojevich today filed an
emergency rule that clarifies pharmacies in Illinois that sell
contraceptives must accept and fill prescriptions for contraceptives without
delay."). See also McDonough, supra note __, at 3. The Governor based his
controversial order on the position that the Illinois legislation protecting
rights of conscience does not apply to pharmacists. Concerned World News,Congress
investigates government coercion of pharmacists, July 27, 2005,
available at (seen December 29, 2005) ("Sheila Nix, the governor's senior
policy adviser, admitted that the governor's office would not force doctors
to prescribe the 'morning-after' pill against their conscience or good
medical judgment. The state's Health Care Right of Conscience Act, in the
governor's interpretation, covered physicians but not pharmacists.")
13. Jim Suhr,
Walgreens places 4 on leave, Associated Press, Dec. 1, 2005, in
Boston.com, available at (seen December 29, 2005) ("The four cited religious
or moral objections to filling prescriptions for the morning-after pill and
'have said they would like to maintain their right to refuse to dispense,
and in Illinois that is not an option,' Walgreen spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce
said.").
14. Ed Langlois,Conscience
situation OK - for now (seen December 19, 2005) (reprinted from Catholic
Sentinel, Sept. 2, 2005).
15. Langlois, supra note __, at *3-4.
16. Molly McDonough, Rx for Controversy, in ABA Journal
E-Report, June 10, 2005, at *3. The President of the ABA sent a letter to
the New York Times (unpublished) stating:
The ABA supports a patient's right to receive medically accurate
information to carry out health care decisions . . . . While we
recognize the difficulty of these issues, we would oppose any
legislation that would impede a patient's ability to get relevant
pharmaceutical information, including referrals that other pharmacies
are willing to fill for that individual. Id.
17. Lynn Vincent,Compulsory
choice (seen December 19, 2005) (reprinted from World Magazine, Jan. 18,
2003).
18. Lynn Vincent,Compulsory
choice (seen December 19, 2005) (reprinted from World Magazine, Jan. 18,
2003).
19. Lynn Vincent,
Compulsory choice, at *1,(seen December 19, 2005) (reprinted from World
Magazine, Jan. 18, 2003).
20. Nancy Valko,Are
Pro-Life Healthcare Providers Becoming an Endangered Species?, at *1
(seen December 19, 2005) (reproduced from Voices On-Line Edition, Vol.
XVIII: No. 2 - Pentecost 2003 with permission from Women for Faith and
Family) (herein "Valko").
21. Greg J. Edwards,Accommodating
Conscience, available at (reprinted from B.C. Catholic), (seen December
19, 2005).
In Ontario, after a re-organization, management ordered very experienced
obstetric and neo-natal nurses at Markham-Stoufville Hospital to assist in
abortions. Again, no choice was offered. Eight nurses filed a complaint with
the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
Five years later, in 1999, the hospital reached an out-of-court settlement,
agreeing that nurses may opt out of doing abortions and that it is up to the
hospital, not the dissenting nurses, to find replacements for themselves.
In Thunder Bay, Ont., in 1997, Bishop Frederick Henry spoke out for
operating nurses who transferred from St. Joseph's Catholic Hospital to
Thunder Bay Regional, where they were required to do abortions. Management
claimed that the nurses knew that they would be required to assist in
abortions, but Bishop Henry pointed out that management's wording of the
Letter of Understanding was ambiguous: the nurses interpreted it to mean
that every effort to accommodate conscientious objectors would be made,
while management claimed it meant nurses could be required to do abortions.
Id.
22. Id.
23. Nancy Valko,Are
Pro-Life Healthcare Providers Becoming an Endangered Species?, at *1
(seen December 19, 2005) (reproduced from Voices On-Line Edition, Vol.
XVIII: No. 2 - Pentecost 2003 with permission from Women for Faith and
Family) (herein "Valko").
24. Edmund Pellegrino, Religious Values and Legal
Dilemmas in Bioethics: They Physician's Conscience, Conscience Clauses, and
Religious Beliefs, 30 Fordham Urban L.J. 221, 225 (2002).
25. See e.g., NARAL Pro-Choice America,Refusal
Clauses: Dangerous for Women's Health (seen December 29, 2005); Planned
Parenthood,Refusal
Clauses A Threat to Reproductive Rights (seen December 29, 2005);
Maureen K. Bailey, Contraceptive Insurance Mandates and Catholic Charities
v. Superior Court of Sacramento: Towards a New Understanding of Women's
Health, 9 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 367, 369 n.7 (2005) ("The ACLU refers to these
clauses as 'refusal clauses,' a term recently selected by the ACLU for its
political purposes. See George Gund Foundation, Pro-Choice Resource Center,
& Reproductive Freedom Project, American Civil Liberties Union,Conscientious
Exemptions and Reproductive Rights in Executive Summary, National Meeting
(2000)); Am. Civil Liberties Union Reprod. Freedom Project, Religious
Refusals and Reproductive Rights 6, 10 (2002) cited in Heather Rae Skeeles,
Note, Patient Autonomy Versus Religious Freedom: Should State Legislatures
Require Catholic Hospitals to Provide Emergency Contraception to Rape
Victims, 60 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1007, 1021-22 (2003) ("refusal laws"
endanger patients); see also Susan Berke Fogel & Lourdes A. Rivera, Saving
Roe Is Not Enough: When Religion Controls Healthcare, 31 Fordham Urb. L.J.
725, 727 (2004); Jason Green, Commentary, Refusal Clauses and the Weldon
Amendment, Inherintly Unconstitutional and A Dangerous Precedent, 26 J.
Legal Med. 401, 401 (2005); Holly Teliska, Recent Development, Obstacles to
Access: How Pharmacist Refusal Clauses Undermine the Basic Health Care Needs
of Rural and Low-Income Women, 20 Berkeley J. Gender L. & Just. 229, 229
(2005).
26. Id. NCSL-Pharmacists at *1. The NCSL may
have been trying to be "balanced" since the title of the webpage refers to
such laws as "conscience clauses" while the first sentence of the first
paragraph of the text referes to them as "Refusal Clauses." Id.
27. Green, supra note __, at 409. See also Fogel, supra
note 2.
28. Abraham Lincoln, Speech at Coopers Union, New York,
______.
29. Americans United for Life,Health
Care Rights of Conscience, Current State Statutes (November 2001). See
further Katherine A. White, Note, Crisis of Conscience: Reconciling
Religious Health Care Providers' Beliefs and Patients' Rights, 51 Stan. L.
Rev. 17031707 n. 18 (1999), citing Rachel Benson Gold, Special Analysis:
Provider 'Conscience' Questions Re-emerge in Wake of Managed Care's
Expansion, in State Reproductive Health Monitor 18 (1997). See also Green,
supra note __, at 404 ("Currently, at least 43 states enforce refusal
clauses, allowing certain health care practitioners to lawfully refuse to
provide health care services that contravene their religious or moral
beliefs." See also Rachel Benson Gold, Conscience Makes a Comeback, The
Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, vol. 1, no. 1, at 1 (1998), cited in
Bonavoglia, supra note __, at n.1.
30. Gold, supra note __, at 1 (citing 1998 AGI report
on 42 states with conscience clauses, 27 of which apply to any institution,
15 to private institutions only, and 1 only to religious insitutions).
31. Consolidated Appropriations Act 2005, Pub. L. No.
108-447, § 508(a),(d)(1)-(2), 118 Stat. 2809 (2004).
32. Id. See generally Green, supra note __, at
411.
33. Id. NCSL-Pharmacists at *2, citing Arkansas
Code Ann. § 20-9-1001; Georgia Code Ann. § 16-12-142; Mississippi Code Ann.
§ 41-41-215; South Dakota Codified Laws Ann. § 36-11-70.
34. Id. NCSL-Pharmacists at *2, 4-5 (citing
bills in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina,
Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia and
Wisconsin).
35. Id. NCSL-Pharmacists at *2 (citing bills in
Maryland, Michigan and Texas).
36. Molly McDonough, Rx for Controversy, in ABA Journal
E-Report, June 10, 2005, at *3.
37. Noah Feldman, The Intellectual Origins of the
Establishment Clause, 77 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 346 (2002); Michael W. McConnell,
The Origins and Historical Understanding of Free Exercise of Religion, 103
Harv. L. Rev. 1409 (1990) (reviewing colonial history of protection of
rights of conscience); Aviam Soifer, Full and Equal Rights of Conscience, 22
U. Haw. L. Rev. 469 (2000); Timothy L. Hall, Roger Williams and the
Foundations of Religious Liberty, 71 B.U. L. Rev. 455 (1991) Richard J.
Reagan, Private Conscience and Public Law 207-234 (1972); Harrop A. Freeman,
A Remonstrance for Conscience, 106 U. Pa. L. Rev. 806 (1958).
38. Dawn Hendrickson Steadman, The Free Exercise Clause
and Original Intent: A View Toward Exemptions, for Origins of the
Constitution, Winter Semester 2000.
39. "Locke recognized that religious intolerance was
inconsistent with both public peace and good government, and deemed
religious rivalry and intolerance to be among the most severe political
problems of his day. . . . The way to avoid such strife[, wrote Locke,] is
by assuring toleration and liberty of religious practice for all." J. David
Bleich, The Physician As A Conscientious Objector, 30 Fordham Urban L. J.
245, 248-249 (2002). However, Locke advocated "legislative supremacy with
respect to conflicts between public power and individual conscience and
reject[ed] religious exemptions." McConnell, supra note __, at 1433.
40. Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious
Freedom (1779), reprinted in 2 The Papers of Thomas Jefferson 545, 546
(Julian P. Boyd ed., Princeton, Univ. Press 1950) cited in Feldman, infra,
note __, at 392.
41. McConnell, supra note __, at 1449 (contrasting
Jefferson's and Madison's views of conscience protection).
42. McConnell, supra note __, at 1449 (Locke's view of
tolerance of conscience took the view of the government, while the American
proponents of rights of conscience took the view of the believer; Founders
took the latter view also).
43. James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against
Religious Assessments, ¶ 15, reprinted in Everson v. Bd. of Ed., 330 U.S. 1,
65-66 (Rutledge, J., dissenting) (emphasis added). Id. at ¶ 1 ("The
Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of
every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may
dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right.") (emphasis
added).
44. Id. at ¶ 1.
45. See infra note __ and accompanying text. See also
McConnell, supra note __, at 1494-1500.
46. The Federalist Papers, No. 10 (Madison)¶4, p. 78
(New American Library 1961).
47. Id. at ¶6.
48. Id.
49. Id. ¶5.
50. Id.
51. "George Washington, in his famous address to the
Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, stated: 'It is now no more
that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of
people, that another enjoyed the exercise of theri inherint natural rights.
More pungently, Thomas Paine commented: 'Toleration is not the opposite of
intolerance, but is the counterfeit of it. Both are despotisms. One assumes
to itself the right of withholding liberty of conscience, and the other of
granting it.'" McConnell, supra note __, at 1434-1444.
52. See generally Kenneth R. Craycraft, Jr., The
American Myth of Religious Freedom 69-101 (1999) (describing how Madison and
Jefferson transformed the theory of religious liberty into a reality);
Joseph L. Hassan, Freedomof Conscience in Early Virginia: A Precursor to the
Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, Paper submitted for Origins of the
Constitution, Apr. 17, 1998 (copy in author's possession).
53. See generally Michael Novak, On Two Wings 12-23
(2002) (describing seven evidences of the Founders' faith).
54. Kermit Hall, et al, American Legal History: Cases
and Materials 70 (1996).
55. This was not the first time conscientious objection
from military service had been recognized. Many of the 600 colonial laws
establishing and regulating militias had "regularly embodied clauses
exempting conscientious objectors, either absolutely or conditionally."
Freeman, supra note __, at 809.
56. "General recognition of the importance of
conscience at the time of the Revolution is illustrated by the resolution of
the Continental Congress, July 18, 1775:
As there are some people, who, from religious principles, cannot bear
arms in any case, this Congress intend no violence to their consciences,
but earnestly recommend it to them, to contribute liberally in this time
of universal calamity, to the relief of their distressed brethren in the
several colonies, and to do all other services to their oppressed
country, which they can consistently with their religious principles."
Freeman, supra note __, at 809.
57. McConnell, supra note __, at 1436-1442
58. Hassan, supra, at 12.
59. Preamble to the Virginia Bill for Religious
Liberty, cited in Everson v. Bd. of Ed., 330 U.S. 1, 12-13 (1946).
60. Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious
Freedom - June 12, 1779, in The Founders' Constitution, vol. 5, 77 (P.
Kurland & R. Lerner eds., Univ. Chi. Press 1987). So proud was Jefferson of
his role in securing protection for rights of conscience that he asked that
his gravestone be inscribed: "Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of
Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father
of the University of Virginia."
61. John Witte, The Essential Rigths and Libertines in
the American Constitutional Experiment, 71 Notre Dame L. Rev. 371, 391,
quoting John Mellen, The Great and Happy Doctrine of Liberty 17 (1795).
62. Witte, supra, at 391-392.
63. McConnell, supra at 1458-59; see generally Id.
at 1455-66.
64. See generally McConnell, supra note __, at
1466-1500 (reviewing history of Free Exercise clause).
65. James Madison was the Father of the Bill of Rights.
66. The history of the writing of the First Amendment
and the differing language used in the various drafts
casts doubt on the suggestion of some commentators that the constitutional
term "religion" should be broadly interpreted in order to encompass secular
claims of conscience. Regardless of whether such a broad interpretation
would be a good idea, such a step would constitute an amendment, not an
interpretation, of the First Amendment, and one that the Framers
specifically considered, debated, and ultimately rejected.
Michael W. McConnell, The Problem of Singling Out Religion , 50 DePaul L.
Rev. 1, 12 (2000)(citations omitted). See also Id. At 1494-1500.
67. Witte, supra note __, at 390, quoting Va. Bill of
Rights of 1776, art. XVI.
68 Freeman, supra note __, at 810 (citing language
from the New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and New York
ratifying conventions).
69. Feldman, supra note __, at 349-350.
70. Feldman, supra note __, at 351
71. Feldman, supra note __, at 350-351. Feldman's
article suggests that Howe's taxonomy of competing strands of religious
thought in colonial America has obscured "the broad agreement in
postrevolutionary America on a Lockean concept of liberty of conscience."
Id. at 373. Feldman traces the development of consensus on the right of
conscience from about 1690 until "by the late eighteenth century, some
version of Locke's basic view of the nature of the liberty of conscience had
been formally embraced by nearly every politically active American writing
on the subject of religion and the state." Id. at 378 Reviewing the
well-documented differences in state patterns of creating and supporting
established churches in the eighteenth century are reviewed, Feldman notes
that "liberty of conscience" was invoked in the battles over support of
established churches in Massachusetts and Virginia. Id. at 379-384.
72. Feldman, supra note __, at 374.
73. Feldman, supra note __, at 384. Writings of
eighteenth century Puritans (both criticizing and defending the New England
Way), Baptists (John Leland, Isaac Backus, William McLoughlin, and others),
Enlightened Deists (Thomas Jefferson and James Madison), and Civil
Republicans (whose purported endorsement of government support for
established religion is questioned by Feldman) broadly agreed that liberty
of conscience was the key to church-state relations. Id. at 384-398.
74. Feldman, supra note __, at 398.
75. Feldman, supra note __, at 401, quoting 3 The
Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal
Constitution, as Recommended by the General Conventiona at Philadelphis, in
1787, at 659 (Jonathan Elliot ed. 1901). North Carolina and Rhode Island
"proposed almost identical language." Feldman, supra, note __, at 401.
76. Feldman, supra note __, at 401-404.
77. Feldman, supra note __, at 404.
78. Id.
79. Feldman, supra note __, at 405. Likewise, both
neo-federalist and post-modern structuralist arguments that the First
Amendment was intended to bar Congress for interfering with state
establishment of religion or to take any position on the problem of funding
of religion fail the test of historical evidence. Id. at 406-412.
80. Freeman, supra note __, at 812. Professor McConnell
suggests that "conscience" was dropped to limit the protection to
religiously-motivated acts. McConnell, supra note __, at 1494-1500.
81. Feldman, supra note __, at 412-417 (examining
"coercion" as possible test for Establishment suggesting advantages with
caution).
82. Feldman, supra note __, at 428.
83. McConnell, supra note __, at 1495.
84. McConnell, supra note __, at 1493-94.
85. McConnell, supra note __, at 1490.
86. McConnell, supra note __, at 1491.
87. Philip A. Hamburger, A Constitutional Right of
Religious Exemption: An Historical Perspective, 60 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 915,
920 (1992). Hamburger goes on to argue against such an exemption on
historical grounds.
88. McConnell, supra note __, at 1496.
89. McConnell, supra note __, at 1497, citing John
Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration, at 43.
90. McConnell, supra note __, at 1497.
91. McConnell, supra note __, at 1498, citing Jame
Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance, supra note __, at 187.
92. McConnell, supra note __, at 1498.
93. McConell, supra note __, at 1500.
94. McConnell, supra note __, at 1488.
95. McConnell, supra note __, at 1489 (citing Samuel
Johnson's 1805 dictionary, Noah Webster's 1806 dictionary, and Buchanan's
1757 dictionary).
96. McConnell, supra note __, at 1489-90 (The Georgia
Charter of 1732 granted liberty of conscience to all, but free exercise of
religion was specifically denied Roman Catholics, suggesting that free
exercise entailed more extensive rights than liberty of conscience.).
97. Id.
98. James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance, supra
note __, at ¶1.
99. [T]he evidence suggests that the theoretical
underpinning of the free exercise clause, best reflected in Madison's
writings, is that the claims of the "universal sovereign" precede the claims
of civil society, both in time and in authority, and that when the people
vested power in the government over civil affairs, they necessarily reserved
their unalienable right to the free exercise of religion, in accordance with
the dictates of conscience. Under this understanding, the right of free
exercise is defined in the first instance not by the nature and scope of the
laws, but by the nature and scope of religious duty.
McConnell, supra note __, at 1512.
100. Jefferson agreed. He famously explained: "The
rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are
answerable for them to our God." Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, in The
Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 275 (Adrienne Koch & William
Peden eds., 1944), cited in Steven D. Smith, The Rise and Fall of Religious
Freedom in Constitutional Discourse, 140 U. Pa. L. Rev. 149, 164 n. 58
(1991).
101. Richard Vetterli & Gary Bryner, In Search of the
Republic, Public Virtue and theRoots of American Government (Rev. ed. 1996).
102. Charles L. de Secondat (Baron de Montesquieu),
The Spirit of Laws, Book 3, ch. 3 (T. Nugent trans., 1902) ("[I]n a popular
state, one spring more is necessary . . ., namely, virtue.").
103. George Washington, Washington's Farewell Address
from Saul Padover,The Washington Papers (searched Sept. 9, 1999).
104. Id.
105. Richard Vetterli & Gary Bryner, Public Virtue
and the Roots of American Governmnet, 27 BYU Studies, 29, 41 (Summer 1987).
10. Id.
107. J. Howe, The Changing Political Thought of John
Adams 165 (1966).
108. 10 The Works of John Adams 284.
109. R. Vetterli & G. Bryner, Introduction: Public
Virtue and the Roots of Republican Government, In Search of the Republic,
Public Virtue and the Roots of American Government at 1, from The Words of
Edmund Burke 51-52 (1866).
110. Walter J. Walsh, The First Free Exercise Case,
73 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1, 35 (2004).
111. Nora O'Callaghan, Lessons from Pharaoh and the
Hebrew Midwives: Conscientious Objection to State Mandates As A Free
Exercise Right, __ Creighton L. Rev. __ (2005) (in publication).
112. Exodus 1:16.
113. Exodus 1:17. One of those saved was Moses, who
when his mother could no longer hide him, was set afloat in an ark of
bulrushes, found by the daughter of Pharaoh, who raised him as her own son.
Exodus 2:1-10.
114. Angela Bonavoglia, Co-opting Conscience, The
Dangerous of Conscience Clauses in American Health Policy, in ProChoice
Resources, available at https://www.prochoiceresource.org/about/CoopConsc.pdf
(seen December 29, 2005).
115. Id.