Jewish Plaintiffs in Establishment Clause Cases |
Josh Blackman | 12.17.2025 3:40 PM
I was doing some research on Establishment Clause cases, and noticed the plaintiffs in several leading cases were Jewish. I'm sure I'm missing others.
In Braunfeld v. Brown (1961), Abraham Braunfeld and the other plaintiffs were "member[s] of the Orthodox Jewish faith, which requires the closing of their places of business and a total abstention from all manner of work from nightfall each Friday until nightfall each Saturday."
In Engel v. Vitale (1962), Steven Engel was described as a "devout Reform Jew."
In Flast v. Cohen (1968), the lead plaintiff was Florence Flast. Several sources indicated he was........