02-26-1974 Preliminary Memorandum

***A response has been filed by the State of Virginia. Petr has been given the opportunity under the USDC order in question here to proceed in state habeas on the claim referred by USDC. Petr refused to proceed, desiring to await this Court\u27s determination in this appeal

01-11-1974 Preliminary Memorandum

1. The issues are (1) whether a state prisoner who has exhausted state remedies is to be denied federal habeas relief because his claim should be resubmitted to state courts in light of an intervening State Supreme Court decision validating that claim; and (2) whether the same prisoner must await federal habeas relief on one claim pending consideration of another independent claim by the state courts

High Wall or Lines of Separation?

The issue of religion and the role it should play in government has long evoked spirited debate. Recently, an argument has been made that the separation between religion and politics has played a large factor in what many consider to be our nation\u27s moral decay. Such an argument, however, is not new. In reviewing Religion and Politics in the Early Republic: Jasper Adams and the Church-State Debate, edited by Daniel L. Dreisbach, James Knicely examines the power of elected government to act benevolently toward religion and the moral values associated with it in light of today\u27s social ills. Religion and Politics in the Early Republic includes a noted sermon given by Jasper Adams in the 1800s. Knicely establishes that among the four interests Jasper Adams conceived as important to an understanding of American culture, religion was the most important. At the time Adams made such an argument, Adams believed that a growing indifference to Christian values in America\u27s political institutions threatened the foundation of civil society. Knicely also examines the reaction that Jasper Adams\u27s viewpoint evoked from other scholars and statesmen, such as James Madison, John Marshall, and Joseph Story, thus providing a unique look at the opinions regarding religion and government among the generation that produced the First Amendment. Knicely then poses the idea that Jasper Adams could be correct; instead of turning to money and welfare programs to solve a moral decay crisis, it might be more helpful to encourage religious and moral values