The Lemon V. Kurtzman Case Summary

In 2003, at the 26th annual convention of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Washington, D.C., Alton T. Lemon was awarded with the “First Amendment Hero” award. This award is for those who have successfully challenged the separation of Church and State via the Supreme Court. Foundation staff member Annie Laurie Gaylor, who presented the plaque to Lemon, said, "The 'Lemon Test' has been invoked in virtually every lawsuit the Foundation has ever taken. It is our best friend” (Gaylor 1). Due to the Lemon v. Kurtzman case, the Lemon test was created to determine whether a law could potentially establish religion in schools. Prior to Lemon v. Kurtzman, there was no separation between Church and State within the public school system. From …show more content…
Lemon argued to the Supreme Court that the Pennsylvania Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act violated the first amendment and David H. Kurtzman argued that the Pennsylvania Act did not violate the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment (Hartman 1). Once presented to the Supreme Court, the law was declared unconstitutional because “the salaries of parochial school teachers with the income [came] from cigarette taxes” (New York Times, Supreme Court Actions 1). The Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause of the Constitution, specifically because the salaries provided for the teachers were from taxes. The Supreme Court’s solution to this controversy was to create a three step test to sustain the separation of Church and State. In order for a law to pass the test, “1. It must have a secular purpose. 2. Its principal effect must not advance nor inhibit religion 3. It must not foster excessive governmental entanglement with religion” (Lemon v. Kurtzman 1). When it was first created, the Lemon test was seen as a way to orderly separate Church and State with clean boundaries. It is now seen as an, “extremely influential legal doctrine, [that] governs not only cases involving government funding of religious institutions, but also cases in which the government promoted religious messages” (Masci 1). …show more content…
Kurtzman, the Lemon test clarifies the separation between Church and State within the United States government. One can now fully understand the motivation behind the case itself, and the success that came with it. Since the test was put into action, it has been used as a guideline and will continue to be used in each and every court case that debates the separation of Church and State within the United States government. Today, the Lemon test continues to enforce the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause in the United States Constitution. The impact of Lemon v. Kurtzman is clear, the Supreme Court decisively ruled that there is to be no religion in the public education system. The style and sophistication of the Lemon test makes it fairly easy to apply to different situations. The test clearly establishes that religion has no place in public education and allows the all courts and legislators to have a specific and sturdy set of guidelines to follow regarding separation of Church and

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