Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/17-965_h315.pdf
Page Number: 66.0

2 

TRUMP v. HAWAII 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

I 

Plaintiffs  challenge 

the  Proclamation  on  various 
grounds,  both  statutory  and  constitutional.    Ordinarily,
when  a  case  can  be  decided  on  purely  statutory  grounds,
we strive to follow a “prudential rule of avoiding constitu­
tional  questions.”    Zobrest  v.  Catalina  Foothills  School 
Dist., 509 U. S. 1, 8 (1993).  But that rule of thumb is far 
from  categorical,  and  it  has  limited  application  where,  as
here,  the  constitutional  question  proves  far  simpler  than 
the statutory one.  Whatever the merits of plaintiffs’ com­
plex  statutory  claims,  the  Proclamation  must  be  enjoined 
for a more fundamental reason: It runs afoul of the Estab­
lishment Clause’s guarantee of religious neutrality. 

A 
The  Establishment  Clause  forbids  government  policies
“respecting  an  establishment  of  religion.”    U. S.  Const., 
Amdt.  1.  The  “clearest  command”  of  the  Establishment 
Clause  is  that  the  Government  cannot  favor  or  disfavor 
one  religion  over  another.    Larson  v.  Valente,  456  U. S. 
228,  244  (1982);  Church  of  Lukumi  Babalu  Aye,  Inc.  v. 
Hialeah,  508  U. S.  520,  532  (1993)  (“[T]he  First  Amend­
ment forbids an official purpose to disapprove of a particu­
lar  religion”);  Edwards  v.  Aguillard,  482  U. S.  578,  593 
(1987)  (“The  Establishment  Clause  . . .  forbids  alike  the 
preference  of  a  religious  doctrine  or  the  prohibition  of
theory which is deemed antagonistic to a particular dogma”
(internal  quotation  marks  omitted));  Lynch  v.  Donnelly, 
465  U. S.  668,  673  (1984)  (noting  that  the  Establishment 
Clause  “forbids  hostility  toward  any  [religion],”  because 
“such hostility would bring us into ‘war with our national
tradition as embodied in the First Amendmen[t]’ ”); Epper
son  v.  Arkansas,  393  U. S.  97,  106  (1968)  (“[T]he  State 
may  not  adopt  programs  or  practices  . . .  which  aid  or 
oppose any religion.  This prohibition is absolute” (citation 
and  internal  quotation  marks  omitted)).    Consistent  with 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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