Religion In Schools: The Lemon V. Kurtzman Case

What did the trial court do? Who won and lost? What did the trial court say?

In the case of Greene’s Jewelry located in Derry, New Hampshire. v. Jennifer Lawson (Known as The Defendant).

The Establishment Clause guarantees the separation of church and government. Christian Theism is the default state doctrinal religion. As opposed to being something to fear , it was believed to be vital to the success of our government. Consequently, framers feared a state denominational religion not a state doctrinal religion. The Supreme Court established various tests to assess the constitutionality of laws that happened before it. The Lemon Test, has three parts addressing purpose, effect, and involvement. To pass the test, government action must be used only for a secular purpose; cannot promote neither prohibit a specific religion. As well as to not substantially involve government in religious matters. Failure on any one of the three

In the state of Pennsylvania and Rhode Island both states had established a law that allowed the local government to fund educational programs that were religious based. The law was passed in 1968 through the Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Alton Lemon, an instructor, did not agree with the law that had been passed. He believed that is violated the First Amendment. (The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion...)

Issue: Do statutes that provide state funding for non-public, non-secular schools violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment? Is it constitutional for the state to provide financial assistance to religious schools for the cost of teaching secular subjects? The trial of Lemon v. Kurtzman was a groundbreaking case that took place in Pennsylvania. The case began because the state of Pennsylvania passed a law that allowed the local government to use money to fund educational programs that taught religious-based lessons, activities, and studies. This law was passed through the Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education

Aguillard case. The Establishment Clause proved to be a major obstacle to teach creationism in schools, as seen through the Edwards v. Aguillard case. On the road to being considered in the Supreme Court, many judges made the comment of the Louisiana Act violating the Establishment Clause by way of what was called the Lemon test. The overarching rule for this test was that a bill, “need not be devoid of any religious motivation…so long as it serves some secular purpose.”

The summer of 1925 was a controversial period of time in the town of Dayton, Tennessee. There had been a law that banned evolution taught in classrooms; the American Civil Liberties Union challenged said law with the help of John Scopes, who was a teacher that taught the theory of evolution in his classroom. In the trial, Clarence Darrow represented Scopes and faced off William Jennings Bryan, who was against evolution being taught and a well-known criminal defense lawyer.

related to the second case, being the second case was fought to reverse the outcome of the first

At the Supreme Court trial, with an 8-1 decision, Justice Clark wrote the majority opinion of the court. (Abington School District v. Schempp, 1963) The Supreme Court justices argued that "state-sponsored devotional Bible readings in public schools constitute an impermissible religious exercise by government.? (Chicago-Kent College of Law, 2015) The court also argued that the Abington School District violated the Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from being involved in religious

In fact, this case was actually made up of five different cases that surrounded the same topic with black children wanting to attend a white school. They came from the states of Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. The court cases involved many famous names known today, such as Thurgood Marshall and Chief Justice Earl Warren (Supreme Court). Earl Warren gave the opinion that even though the cases came from different locations, they all had the same legal question to put into consideration. Before going to the Supreme Court, the five cases were ruled in favor of the school boards by a U.S. District Court with a three judge panel. The case presented in front of the Supreme Court raised questions about legal issues, but the most common one was that separate school systems were unequal and violated the constitution (Administrative Office). At this level in the court system, many justices realized they did not know which way to go in the case. Surprisingly, most wanted to overturn Plessy and claim that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional (Administrative Offices). In the end, Earl Warren was able to get all the justices to agree on one outcome of the case in 1953. By a unanimous vote, Plessy was overturned and declared that segregation in public schools was against the constitution

A more recent case which is similar to Everson v. Board of Education, is Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. The taxpayers of Arizona were challenging the fact that a state law was providing tax credits to those who were donating to school tuition organizations in order for the schools to provide scholarships to those attending private/religious schools. The claim was that this was a violation of the Establishment Clause (Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, 2016.), which is the first of several pronouncements within the First Amendment within the U.S. Constitution, or the first ten amendments within the Bill of Rights, which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” (Bill of Rights, 2016.). The Supreme Court had ruled 5-4 and argued that the plaintiff did not have enough information and standing to bring to the suit. Justice Kagen, in her dissent, stated that “cash grants and targeted tax breaks are means of accomplishing the same government object; to provide financial support to select individuals or organizations.” (Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, 2016.). Although the ruling was made on “narrow grounds”, according to Peter Wooley, a political science and direction of the PublicMind Poll, the plaintiff in one “guise or another will be back another day” (Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, 2016.).

The establishment clause was created to generate separation between the church and the state. According to our textbook this means that neither the federal or state government can pass laws which aid one religion, all religions, or prefer one religion over the other. It also covers the legality of many conflicts. There have been many supreme court rulings based on this clause. In the case Lemon v. Kurtzman, the issue of aid to private schools with religious affiliation was debated. According to our textbook, the court determined that aid had to be secular, can not advance or inhibit religion, and that the government must avoid entanglement with religion. Many cases must pass the lemon test by assuring the aid is secular, does not advance, or entangle religion. The supreme court has made many rulings against aid to church related schools believing it to be unconstitutional.

2. Describe briefly the history of the litigation of this case (which courts heard the case, which way did they rule, what court is now deciding the case, which judges are hearing the case in this court)?

(1966). The ruling of Kent v. United States focuses on the importance of determining the

The debate on religion in the public school is complicated by the fact that there are two clauses dealing with religion in the First Amendment (Warnick, 2012). The Establishment Clause, which disallows the establishment by the government of any particular religion, and the Free Exercise Clause, which prohibits the state from proscribing the practice of religion, are a source of