agrees. Koppelman is the John Paul Stevens professor of law at Northwestern University whose work falls at the intersection of law and political philosophy. He’s written more than 100 scholarly articles and seven books, including his most recent book, “Gay Rights vs. Religious Liberty? The Unnecessary Conflict.” He took some time to discuss how and why the questioning outlined in the ACLU lawsuit violates constitutional rights.
Some of the reports … indicated that officers are just baldly asking somebody whether they were Muslim and whether they took their religion seriously, as though there were something wrong with that. That’s clearly impermissible. Wherever the line is, this is far inland from that.Part of the lawsuit alleges that the questioning violates constitutional rights because people who practice other religions are not being questioned in this way.
The government has no legitimate basis for inquiring into somebody’s religious beliefs. It’s just not the government’s business. There is no legitimate basis for it.