(b.October 1, 1924), Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1986; was an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1972–86; and U.S. Attorney General, 1969–72. He stated in his dissenting opinion in the case of Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 92, 99, 107 (1984):
It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine upon a mistaken understanding of Constitutional history. … The establishment clause had been expressly freighted with Jefferson’s misleading metaphor for nearly forty years. …
There is simply no historical foundation for the proposition that the framers intended to build a wall of separation [between church and state]. … The recent court decisions are in no way based on either the language or intent of the framers. …
But the greatest injury of the “wall” notion is its mischievous diversion of judges from the actual intentions of the drafters of the Bill of Rights. … The “wall of separation between church and State” is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.3835