Which case established the Lemon test for Establishment Clause analysis?

Which case established the Lemon test for Establishment Clause analysis?

• A. Abington School District v. Schempp
• B. Lemon v. Kurtzman
• C. Wallace v. Jaffree
• D. Engle v. Vitale

Answer: (B)

The question tests your understanding of the framework used to evaluate Establishment Clause challenges, specifically the standard known as the Lemon test. The Lemon test sets out three questions to ask about a government action: does it have a secular purpose, is its primary effect neutral toward religion (neither advancing nor inhibiting religion), and does it avoid an excessive entanglement between government and religion. This framework was created in Lemon v. Kurtzman in 1971 to decide on statutes that provided financial support to nonpublic (parochial) schools and similar arrangements. The other famous school-context cases—Engle v. Vitale (school-sponsored prayer) and Abington School District v. Schempp (Bible readings)—address Establishment Clause issues but did not establish the Lemon test. Wallace v. Jaffree involved a moment of silence and applied the Lemon framework, but the test itself comes from Lemon v. Kurtzman.

The question tests your understanding of the framework used to evaluate Establishment Clause challenges, specifically the standard known as the Lemon test. The Lemon test sets out three questions to ask about a government action: does it have a secular purpose, is its primary effect neutral toward religion (neither advancing nor inhibiting religion), and does it avoid an excessive entanglement between government and religion. This framework was created in Lemon v. Kurtzman in 1971 to decide on statutes that provided financial support to nonpublic (parochial) schools and similar arrangements. The other famous school-context cases—Engle v. Vitale (school-sponsored prayer) and Abington School District v. Schempp (Bible readings)—address Establishment Clause issues but did not establish the Lemon test. Wallace v. Jaffree involved a moment of silence and applied the Lemon framework, but the test itself comes from Lemon v. Kurtzman.