Lemon Test – Blue Cereal Education

Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) – from “Have To” History

Blue Cereal — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 13:49:51 +0000

NOTE: This is an excerpt from "Have To" History: A Wall of Education. In the 50+ years since this decision was issued, the "Lemon Test" has been clarified, narrowed, reinforced, and finally all but discarded by an evolving Supreme Court. (The recent decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton references it several dozen times - mostly negatively.)

That's unfortunate, in my opinion, because it was for several decades one of the most straightforward and balanced approaches to avoiding "establishment" problems without overly hindering "free exercise." The case is still important, however - not only because of the issues involved and the "test" which resulted, but for the erudite arguments and genuine efforts to remain pragmatic without sacrificing fundamental liberties on either side. The majority opinion by Chief Justice Warren Burger is one of the best on this topic in the entire history of the Court.

A Wall of Separation – Bown v. Gwinnett County School District (1997)

Blue Cereal — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 19:46:11 +0000

Two cases in the early 1960s largely eliminated state-sponsored prayer from public schooling. Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Abington v. Schempp (1963) are to this day touted by the far right as responsible for having kicked God out of schools – leading inevitably to sex, drugs, violence, rock’n’roll, corduroy, divorce, the pill, AIDS, the Clintons, … Continue reading

Wall of Separation (Supreme Court Cases & Such) – Updated

Blue Cereal — Sat, 14 Jan 2017 21:34:05 +0000

A few months ago, I started blogging about Supreme Court cases delineating the relationships between religion and public schooling. In order to use some of the case summaries in class, I started editing and reformatting them afterwards. Then I figured since the work was already being done, and this effort at providing classroom resources in PDF format was already underway... why not just post them as I go?

A Wall of Separation – The Story So Far…

Blue Cereal — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 12:53:29 +0000

Now that the elections are over and all that is good or true in the world has been destroyed, I'm trying to shift my focus back to educational stuff. You know, the things that at one time seemed important enough to shape the title of this blog? Here's my in-progress summary of cases involving church/state issues in relation to public schooling - and a few which aren't.

A Wall of Separation – Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)

Blue Cereal — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 22:50:48 +0000

So far we’ve done a brief overview of the concept of a ‘Wall of Separation’ between church and state, and covered a few early Supreme Court Cases involving religion and public schools. We looked at Everson v. Board of Education (1947) in which the Court determined it was perfectly acceptable for the state to reimburse … Continue reading

A Wall of Separation – Stone v. Graham (1980)

Blue Cereal — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 22:41:15 +0000

On November 17, 1980, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Stone v. Graham – a case involving the required posting of the Ten Commandments on the wall of every classroom in Kentucky. This was about a month after the release of “Another One Bites the Dust” (Queen), although “Lady” (Kenny Rogers) was at that … Continue reading

A Wall of Separation – Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) & “The Lemon Test”

Blue Cereal — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 02:31:00 +0000

*Dramatic Voice* Previously, on Blue Cereal Education… I recently proffered a brief overview of the whole ‘Wall of Separation’ idea in American jurisprudence, then dove into a few early Supreme Court Cases involving religion and public schools. We looked at Everson v. Board of Education (1947) in which the Court determined it was perfectly acceptable … Continue reading