Legal Brief #4
AP American Government
Neil Vezeau
Citation. Lemon v. Kurtzman. Supreme Court of the United States, 1971.
Issue. Whether governmental payment for secular curriculum materials and teaching at Catholic
schools is unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Relief sought. Lemon wanted David Kurtzman to stop giving Catholic schools money to pay for
teachers and other learning materials.
Facts. The Pennsylvania’s 1968 Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act allowed
the State to pay for books and other school materials in
Rhode Island Salary Supplement Act allowed the State to reimburse pay of teachers teaching
secular subjects at religious high schools
Finding (Holding) of the Court. The Supreme Court of the United States sided with Lemon
and found that Pennsylvania's 1968 Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the
Rhode Island Salary Supplement Act both involved too much government involvement with a
religious organization and declared it unconstitutional.
Reasoning. The Court reasoned in a new so called “Lemon Test” that any state action, to be
Constitutional under the First Amendment involving the separation of church and state, had to
meet three requirements:
 The action must have a legitimate and non-religious purpose
 The action must not have the goal of supporting or being against religion
 The action must not cause a large amount of government involvement with a religious
institution.
The Supreme Court did not believe the two Acts to meet the last requirement and declared them
unconstitutional.
Dissenting Opinions (if any). none
* * * End of Brief * * *
Legal Terms
Appellee: the defendant or respondent in a court hearing
Appellant: a party that appeals to a higher tribunal or court
Implications
Religious Schools would have to collect all of their own funding, raising school tuition.
The government would have to stay out of many affair of religious school to avoid
disobeying the decision of this case.
The state governments would have more money to budget because of less educational
expenditures.