Marci A. Hamilton is Author, God vs. the Gavel Religion and the Rule of Law and expert on constitutional and copyright law.

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Marci A. Hamilton: Author, God vs. the Gavel: Religion
and the Rule of Law
[By Charisse Dengler]
Author of God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law and an expert on constitutional and copyright law, Marci
A. Hamilton said it was her involvement in Boerne v. Flores that ultimately determined the path of her career. Ever
since the landmark case, she has been devoted to issues involving the separation of church and state.
Upon graduation from Penn Law School unfortunately passed away—was successful In the first chapter of the book, Hamilton
in 1988, where she graduated magna cum in persuading the Court that RFRA was explains her switch from being a person who
laude and served as Editor-in-Chief of the unconstitutional because it violated believed in strong protection of religious
Penn Law Review, Hamilton clerked for federalism—sometimes called states’ entities to being someone whose career is
Judge Edward R. Becker and Justice Sandra rights—and was an attempt to amend the dedicated to both monitoring and fighting
Day O’Connor. She then began teaching and First Amendment through simple majority religious entities that have too much freedom
helped found the Cardozo School of Law vote.” to harm.
(Yeshiva University) Intellectual Property Law
Program, serving as the program’s director Hamilton wrote one of the first articles “My work with RFRA in the Boerne case
until passing it on to Professor Justin to attack RFRA’s constitutionality, which brought me into contact with many groups
Hughes. appeared in the Cardozo Law Review. that lobby against religious entities in
Denton, Boerne’s city attorney, contacted her various contexts, including many children’s
Currently, she holds the position of Paul R. when he learned her article was forthcoming. advocates,” she said. “The more I learned
Verkuil Chair in Public Law, teaches at the It was her involvement in the case that about the dark side of religious entities in
law school, and spends her sabbaticals at led her to write God vs. the Gavel, a book American culture and the harm they are
Princeton Theological Seminary. In addition, that deals with the controversial subject of capable of generating, the more devoted I
she is a wife and a dedicated mother of two, separation of church and state. became to ensuring that the United States
and she’s also busy working on another book. hold them accountable for the harm they do.
“The first half of God vs. the Gavel documents
Personal responsibility is the American way,
the reality that religious entities harm others
“Finding the time in the day to do all that is after all.”
and that, too often, they do so with legal
necessary to do the best I possibly can, while
protection,” Hamilton said. “For example,
preserving my best time for my family [is Hamilton is currently an advisor to clergy-
children in faith-healing homes have been
one of the more difficult things about being abuse victims around the nation on
medically neglected to their deaths in states
a lawyer],” she said. “I am very fortunate constitutional issues, and she also advises
where there are religious exemptions to the
because both Judge Becker and Justice Congress and state legislatures on pending
medical neglect laws.”
O’Connor set sterling examples of dedication legislation.
to their careers coupled with intense family
“It is to be expected that religious entities
devotion.” “Most recently, I have testified in numerous
lobby elected representatives and flex their
states regarding the constitutionality
muscle,” she continued. “The problem with
Hamilton, who was the lead litigator before of legislation intended to aid victims of
the system is that elected representatives
the U.S. Supreme Court for the City of childhood sexual abuse,” she said.
fail to ask the hard questions when they
Boerne, TX, in Boerne vs. Flores, refers to
are approached by a religious entity. They
her involvement in the case as life-changing. Led to the field of law by admiration for her
blindly assume that if it is good for religion,
grandfather, William Wehrli, who was the
it is good for society. God vs. the Gavel
“The question in the case was whether Casper, WY, City Attorney during Prohibition
establishes that that is not true empirically,
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and who represented Wyoming in a water
and, therefore, the right rule is to apply the
[RFRA] was constitutional,” she said. “Our rights case before the Supreme Court,
laws that apply to everyone else to religious
team—which included Lowell Denton, a Hamilton thoroughly enjoys her choice of
entities. Exemptions for religiously motivated
great attorney in San Antonio, TX, and profession.
action are only deserved where the conduct
local city attorney Gordon Hollon, who has
permitted does not harm others.”
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THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LEGAL JOBS ON EARTH
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“Lawyers are very lucky because they have it is a very satisfying blend of intellectual Cardozo Law Review
an endless variety of mental challenges challenge, practical problem solving, and www.cardozolawreview.com
before them,” she said. “There is interesting real-world issues.”
variety within individual arenas—intellectual Princeton Theological Seminary
property, corporate, tax, or real estate. But ON THE NET www.ptsem.edu
lawyers also have a greater capacity than
other professionals to change course if that University of Pennsylvania Law School
is where their hearts take them. For myself, www.law.upenn.edu
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