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Lemon V. Kurtzman Case

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One of the many landmark cases heard by the United States Supreme Court in American history was Lemon vs Kurtzman. In 1971 the Supreme Court had to decide if states could give money to certain religious based schools to hire staff even if the teachers couldn’t teach religious classes. The first amendment to the Constitution established the law of separation of church and state. What is the established boundary between church and state? This case would be the defining point in that fight between the involvement of a state and the churches. The case was filed by Alton Lemon, a teacher in Pennsylvania who believed the state had violated the US Constitution, namely the first amendment, by putting religious beliefs and interests against the people. …show more content…

“In Walz v. Tax Commission, 1970, the Court created precedents that at times appeared contradictory, but that aimed to uphold a "constitutional neutrality." As Chief Justice Burger put it in his majority opinion in Walz, 1970, "[let] no religion be sponsored nor favored, none commanded, and none inhibited (Lemon v. Kurtzman 1971 par 1).” This prior case was used as a basis for Lemon v. Kurtzman in order to dispute about the separation case by case. Lemon v. Kurtzman and Walz v Tax Commission weren’t the only things going on in the 1970’s, the United States pulled out of Vietnam in 1973. Another thing that happened around the ending of this case was when President Nixon resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal. “More importantly, Lemon v. Kurtzman took place in the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania before it was moved to the Supreme Court (Lemon v. Kurtzman par 1).” The case was argued by the defense and the prosecution on March 3, 1971, and was the verdict was decided on by June 28, 1971. The manner in which this case was held was extremely controversial because the government could’ve minimized the rights of citizens if the government won. Also the

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(2) Background Information As well as the lawsuit filed by Alton Lemon, this incident involved two other cases that fell under the same issue, Earley v. DiCenso and Robinson v. DisCenso. Both conflicts involved a state law passed, through the Non- public Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1968, by the state of Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. This act gave the government permission to fund religious based or parochial schools. Although the schools provided textbooks and instructional materials for secular subjects, a Pennsylvania instructor believed that this act violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” Lemon argued that that by providing this money

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After listening to the oral arguments and reading the opinion of the court, I believe I have completed the second part of my analysis for the Witters case. The Court ruled in favor of the petitioner Mr. witters in a 9-0 majority. The Court ruled that the lemon test established in Lemon v. Kurtzman was applicable in this case, and that aid to Witters would meet the standards set in the lemon test. The Court ruled that the primary effect of the statute was an effect on Witters, not religion. Where the aid money would be spent the court noted was made solely by the individual, therefore the Court ruled that the state of Washingtons ' statute had no excessive entanglement with religion.

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