WASHINGTON — The Constitution is famously built on checks and balances, but nowhere does it specifically call for a "separation of powers" or insist on a "separation of church and state."
Those two widely understood legal concepts evolved over more than two centuries of rulings.
Today, however, the emboldened Supreme Court conservative majority is relying on one — separation of powers — to block progressive policies and regulations, even as it chips away at the other — the line between government and religion.
