The Lemon Test and the Establishment of Religion

What is the Lemon Test under the First Amendment and how has the Supreme Court used it to regulate the establishment of religion? Now, after Kennedy v. Bremerton, is the Lemon Test dead? In the 1971 Supreme Court case Lemon v. Kurtzmann, the Court established a test to determine whether legislation violates the Constitution’s establishment clause. This test was called the Lemon Test and has been used in numerous cases to determine the constitutionality of state actions that bear upon religion. The Lemon Test has three prongs, each a requirement for state action to be deemed constitutional under the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution: (1) the law must have a secular purpose, (2) the primary effect of the law must not infringe on or promote religion, and (3) the law should not unduly entangle government with religion. In the controversial Supreme Court case, Kennedy v. Bremerton, the Supreme Court ruled that a public high school football coach could pray on the field without violating the 1st Amendment's establishment clause. In making its determination, however, the Court did not use or even mention the once popular Lemon Test, instead the majority deployed a new test, the "historical practices and traditions test." While Lemon was not explicitly overturned, this has left some legal scholars to speculate that the once popular test is now dead. ____________________ 0:00 Introduction of constitutional law professor and historian Sarah Barringer Gordon 0:20 What is the Lemon Test? 2:16 Lemon v. Kurtzman (The Supreme Court, 1971) 3:10 The Legacy of the Lemon Test 3:47 The Lemon Test Loses Popularity 4:50 The Endorsement Test and Resistance to It 6:27 Kennedy v. Bremerton and the Downfall of the Lemon Test