Religion Law Quiz #56 (The Lemon Test)

We learned from Religion Law Quiz #55 that Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing, 330 U.S. 1, 67 S.Ct. 504, 91 L.Ed. 711 (1947) incorporated the Establishment Clause to the states.  Following that decision, the Supreme Court was hit with a variety of lawsuits dealing with difficult Establishment Clause issues.  As courts are wont to do, after a while the Supreme Court developed a test (based on its prior decisions) to address Establishment Clause issues.  What was the decision that adopted the test and what are the elements of the test? 

 

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Answer:  The test was enunciated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602, 91 S.Ct. 2105, 29 L.Ed.2d 745 (1971).  "Under the Lemon test, a court must ask whether a challenged government action (1) has a secular purpose; (2) has a 'principal or primary effect' that 'neither advances nor inhibits religion'; and (3) does not foster 'an excessive government entanglement with religion.'” American Legion v. American Humanist Association, 139 S.Ct. 2067, 2078-79 (2019) (citing 403 U. S., at 612–613, 91 S.Ct. 2105 (internal quotation marks omitted)).

 

 

Disclaimer: The Religion Law Quizzes are provided as a service to you. They are intended only for educational purposes. Nothing in the Quizzes is intended to be legal advice and they should not be relied upon as conclusive on any issue discussed therein.