Constitutional Opinion No. 2026-0750
Case Information
- Source
- Supreme Court of the United States (Taney Court), U.S. Reports Vol. 44
- Author
- Justice John Catron (opinion of the Court)
- Publication Date
- 1845-01-01
- Content Type
- Judicial Opinion / Legal-Normative Text
- Opinion Issued
- 2026-07-20
- AFCS Version
- 1.0
Holding
The principle scored here is a structural one, and the Standard scores the principle the holding announces, not the sympathies of the result it produced. Justice Catron, for the Court, held that the First Amendment binds Congress and not the states: "The Constitution makes no provision for protecting the citizens of the respective states in their religious liberties; this is left to the state constitutions and laws: nor is there any inhibition imposed by the Constitution of the United States in this respect on the states." Finding no violation of federal law or treaty in force, the Court dismissed the writ for want of jurisdiction. This is a faithful reading of the Constitution as it then stood — the First Amendment by its terms binds Congress, and in 1845, before the Fourteenth Amendment and incorporation, no federal provision extended the Bill of Rights against the states. That is the originalist, text-first fidelity the Permanence of the Constitutional Order commands (Article XVII); a clean statement of federalism and equal footing (Article XII); and jurisdictional discipline — the Court refused to exceed its power under the Judiciary Act rather than stretch jurisdiction to reach a sympathetic result (Article XVIII). The Standard registers the genuine tension: the principle correctly locates religious liberty in state hands, but the pre-incorporation doctrinal effect left a citizen burdened in his worship with no federal remedy, which a Faith-of-the-Founders lens cannot score as an unqualified good (Article XI, mixed). Scored as Legal/Normative text under the 85/15 weighting. Tier 1 nets to 71; the result is 74 — Mostly America First. Principle scored, not result.
It is the judgment of this Court that Opinion No. 2026-0750 is hereby entered into the record, in accordance with the America First Constitutional Standard. The score stands. The reasoning is published. The record is public.