Jay D. Wexler (born April 12, 1969) is an American legal scholar known for being the first to study laughter at the Supreme Court of the United States.
[24][21][25] In addition to laughter during sessions of the Supreme Court of the United States, Wexler's research focuses on church-state issues and environmental law.
Weed Rules: Blazing the Way to a Just and Joyful Marijuana Policy (2023) The book argues that states which have legalized cannabis should adopt a "careful exuberance" approach to regulating the drug rather than the "grudging tolerance" they typically use now.
[26] The book examines how a smaller portion of the United States population identifies as Christian than in the past, and how the growing non-Christian religions are using the law to assert themselves and create a more diverse public square.
Wexler travels the country to obtain first hand accounts of the religious disputes of the Summum in Salt Lake City, Wiccans in Wisconsin, Atheists in Greece, New York, and Muslims in North Carolina.
[31] Wexler's first collection of short stories takes readers to disparate places: a zoo where all of the animals are black and white, a children's camp where they have to collect clams, Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing run by the 1977 Kansas City Royals, and Henry Clay's advice to various people.
This book, like much of Wexler's work, seeks to educate and entertain,[4] and while some enjoy this "fresh vantage point,"[34] others find it distracting.
His first foray into humor publishing explained how it is possible to get 100% of one's daily recommended allowance of vitamins and minerals by eating mass quantities of junk food.
[53] He has made significant contributions to the discourse surrounding the teaching of religion, particularly intelligent design, in American public schools.