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Lemon v. Kurtzman 1971
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Facts PA law provided reimbursement to private schools Covered Teacher salaries Textbooks for non- religious courses
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Issue Does the PA law violate the establishment clause of the 1 st amendment and the equal protection clause of the 14 th amendment? 1 st amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” 14 th amendment: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall… deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
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Alton Lemon- ACLU (appellant) Alton Lemon- ACLU (appellant) Church affiliated schools promote a particular religion. Programs for reimbursement are “excessive entanglement” by state. Oversight of schools would be difficult.
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Listening to Lemon oral arguments Lemon oral arguments Lemon oral arguments 1. What subjects are mentioned? 2. How does a non-public school qualify for aid from the state? 3. What was the source of money used by Pennsylvania to pay the schools? 4. What question caused the court to laugh?
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Kurtzman: appellee Kurtzman: appellee 15% salary supplement Teacher’s teaching subjects offered in public schools 25% of state’s students went to non-public schools - 95% of these were Catholic Schools serving more than 20% of area students No establishment of “state” religion
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Outcome Court held that state program directly benefited parochial schools. State supervision would produce excessive entanglement. Created three-pronged test:
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Significance – created 3-pronged test 1. Purpose of aid must be clearly secular. 2. Primary effect of aid must neither advance nor inhibit religion. 3. Aid must avoid “excessive entanglement” of government with religion.
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Opinion “The substantial religious character of these church-related schools gives rise to entangling church-state relationships of the kind the Religion Clauses sought to avoid.” Chief Justice Warren Burger (1971)
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Works Cited The Oyez Project, Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971), http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970- 1979/1970/1970_89/ http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970- 1979/1970/1970_89/ http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970- 1979/1970/1970_89/ Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy, Edwards, Lineberry et. al. Thirteenth Edition. 2008 Supreme Court majority opinion by Chief Justice Warren Burger http://supreme.justia.com/us/403/602/case.html http://supreme.justia.com/us/403/602/case.html
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