Lemon v. Kurtzman - religious activities in public schools
06/28/1971 AD decided

The US Supreme Court ruled in an 8–1 decision that Pennsylvania's Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act (represented through David Kurtzman) from 1968 was unconstitutional, violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The act allowed the Superintendent of Public Schools to reimburse private schools (mostly Catholic) for the salaries of teachers who taught in these private elementary schools from public textbooks and with public instructional materials.

The Court's decision in this case established the "Lemon test" (named after the lead plaintiff Alton Lemon), which details legislation concerning religion. It is threefold:

• The statute must have a secular legislative purpose. (Also known as the Purpose Prong)
• The principal or primary effect of the statute must neither advance nor inhibit religion. (Also known as the Effect Prong)
• The statute must not result in an "excessive government entanglement" with religion. (Also known as the Entanglement Prong)

If any of these prongs is violated, the government's action is deemed unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In the 1985 case Wallace v. Jaffree the Supreme Court further stated that the effect prong and the entanglement prong don't need to be examined, if the law in question doesn't have an obvious secular purpose.

Washington, D.C.

Lattitude: 38.9072° N
Longitude: 77.0369° W
Region: North America

Modern Day United States

Events in 1971 MORE