Democracy Under Assault Theopolitics, Incivility and Violence on the Right Michele Swenson Justice Hugo Black's 1962 Supreme Court Opinion

In the 1962 school prayer decision, Engel v. Vitale, Justice Hugo Black wrote:

....a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and degrade religion.

Some have tried to discredit Justice Black's opinion by noting that he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in his younger days.  However, his is a story of redemption.  It has been said of Justice Black—When he was young, he wore white robes and scared black folks; when he was older, he wore black robes and scared white folks.