(February 27, 1886–September 25, 1971), was an Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1937–71, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt; and a U.S. Senator from Alabama, 1927–37. He wrote in a 1962 decision:
Indeed, as late as the time of the Revolutionary War, there were established churches in at least eight of the thirteen former colonies and established religions in at least four of the other five.3391
In Everson v. Board of Education, 1947, Justice Hugo La Fayette Black commented:
This court has previously recognized that the provisions of the First Amendment, in the drafting and adoption of which Madison and Jefferson played such leading roles, had the same objective and were intended to provide the same protection against governmental intrusions on religious liberty as the Virginia statute.3392
The “establishment of religion” clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church, neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another.3393