The issue of legal impediments to changing one’s name has come up once more at Strasbourg. Background In Aktaş and Aslaniskender v Turkey [2019] ECHR (nos. 18684/07 and 21101/07)

[in French] Mr Aktaş was an Assyrian with Turkish and Swiss dual nationality. He obtained Swiss nationality in 1995, stating his surname as “Amno” (an Assyrian [...]

For those who are interested, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy has published my article, Masterpiece Cakeshop and the Future of Religious Freedom, in the most recent

issue. Here’s the abstract: [...]

It surely must count as a feature of the polarized political times that people on different sides of the partisan spectrum perceive increasing threats to fundamental rights

and interests coming from their political adversaries. This is certainly true for the First Amendment. [...]

Here’s our annual review of Center activities for the past academic year, including Part III of the Tradition Project in Rome–with a keynote from Justice Samuel A. Alito;

the fourth biennial Colloquium in Law and Religion, a new podcast series, and more. [...]

I have an essay about the Bladensburg Cross case at Public Discourse, where I isolate the holding (and wonder about whether there is actually a broader holding in the case),

discuss the case’s implications for future religious displays, and speculate about the dynamics on the Supreme Court and elsewhere respecting these issues. [...]

I enjoyed reading and reviewing Richard Brookhiser’s recent book about John Marshall. Brookhiser has an easy and genial biographical style that has made for engaging narratives

about Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, George Washington, and others. The Marshall book certainly fits into his larger body of work. [...]

That's my essay on The American Legion v. American Humanist Association over at Public Discourse this morning. A bit: The holding of American Legion lays out what could be

called a jurisprudence of old religious monuments, symbols, and practices. When a religious monument, symbol, or practice, is old—whether it is a cross or a Ten [...]

As reported by Yascha Mounck of Johns Hopkins in The Atlantic,  a group called More in Common has released a study called "The Perception Gap," showing the divergence between

what people of one political party think the other party's members believe, and what they actually do believe. [...]

On 19 June 2019, the Employment Appeal Tribunal handed down two separate judgments relating to the same appellant, Mr Richard Page: Page v Lord Chancellor & Anor [2019] UKEAT

0304 18 1906 and Page v NHS Trust Development Authority [2019] UKEAT 0183 18 1906. [...]

This story from Crux about an Italian nun who has spent most of her ministry working to rescue people from human trafficking is truly inspiring. Sister Gabriella Bottani was

honored on Thursday, during a ceremony introducing the 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, presented by U.S. [...]