Case Categories: Establishment Clause

The first clause in the Bill of Rights states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

For approximately the first 150 years of the country’s existence, there was little debate over the meaning of this clause in the Constitution. As the citizenry became more diverse, however, challenges arose to existing laws and practices, and eventually, the Supreme Court was called upon to determine the meaning of the establishment clause.

Though not explicitly stated in the First Amendment, the clause is often interpreted to mean that the Constitution requires the separation of church and state.

Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, was the first public official to use this metaphor. He opined that an authentic Christian church would be possible only if there was “a wall or hedge of separation” between the “wilderness of the world” and “the garden of the church.” Williams believed that any government involvement in the church would corrupt the church.

It was not until after World War II that the Supreme Court interpreted the meaning of the establishment clause.

In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), the Supreme Court held that the establishment clause is one of the liberties protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, making it applicable to state laws and local ordinances. Since then the court has ruled in cases that involved required Bible reading in schools, religious displays on government property, display of the Ten Commandments in courtrooms, and the use of government funds to pay for religious schooling.

• Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)

  Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) ended devotional exercises in public schools because the First Amendment forbade the recognition of one religion over...

• Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton (2017)

  In Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton (2017), church-related nonprofits argued they were exempt from ERISA pension rules under First Amendment church-...

• American Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019)

  American Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019) ruled that a longstanding cross erected to honor slain servicemen does not violate the First Amendment...

• Archdiocese of Washington. v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Authority (2020)

  The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a case in which the Washington Metro Transit Authority refused to allow an ad from the Catholic Archdiocese...

• Barnes v. First Parish in Falmouth (1810)

  Barnes v. First Parish in Falmouth (Mass. 1810) found that the state could establish a religion and that a preacher not of that denomination could not receive...

• Beatty v. Kurtz (1853)

  The Supreme Court ruling in Beatty v. Kurtz (1853) is an example of favoring church rights despite the First Amendment's clause against establishment of...

• Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet (1994)

  Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet (1994) said a school district created for disabled children of a religious sect violated the...

• Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati v. Minor (1872)

  Board of Education v. Minor (1872), a state supreme court decision, preceded later First Amendment debates in the Supreme Court about religious instruction in...

• Board of Education of the Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (1990)

  In Board of Education of the Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (1990) the Court upheld the Equal Access Act, which barred religious discrimination against...

• Board of Trustees of Scarsdale v. McCreary (1985)

  Board of Trustees of Scarsdale v. McCreary (1985) said that a Christmas display on public property did not violate the establishment clause of the First...

• Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board v. Pinette (1995)

  Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board v. Pinette (1995) ruled that a KKK Christmas display did not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment...

• Carson v. Makin (June 21, 2022)

  The Supreme Court in Carson v. Makin ruled in June 2022 that Maine's tuition reimbursement program could not exclude parents who sent their children to...

• Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States (1892)

  Supreme Court Justice David Brewer called the United States a "Christian nation" in an 1892 opinion favoring a church who had violated a law on foreign labor...

• City of Edmond v. Robinson (1996)

  The Court denied certiorari in City of Edmond v. Robinson (1996) upholding that a city seal violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment because it...

• Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty v. Nyquist (1973)

  Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty v. Nyquist (1973) determined that a tuition and tax break program for parochial school parents violated the...

• Commonwealth v. Wolf (Penn. Supreme Court) (1817)

  In 1817, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a fine against a Jewish man who worked on a Sunday in violation of the state's law prohibiting work on the...

• County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union (1989)

  A splintered Supreme Court in 1989 held that a nativity creche display inside a county courthouse in Pittsburgh violated the First Amendment’s establishment...

• Edwards v. Aguillard (1987)

  Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) said a state law mandating teaching “creation science” alongside evolution in public school violated the First Amendment's...

• Elmbrook School District v. Doe (2014)

  The Court refused to hear Elmbrook School District v. Doe (2014), in which a circuit court said a graduation in a nondenominational church violated the First...

• Engel v. Vitale (1962)

  Engel v. Vitale (1962) ruled that school-sponsored prayer in public schools violated the First Amendment even though participation in the prayer was voluntary...

• Epperson v. Arkansas (1968)

  Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) struck down a state law that criminalized the teaching of evolution in public schools, finding that the law violated the First...

• Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020)

  The Supreme Court in 2020 ruled that states cannot create programs that exclude religious schools from programs that subsidize private schools with public money...

• Everson v. Board of Education (1947)

  Everson v. Board of Education (1947) said spending tax funds to bus children to religious schools did not breach the First Amendment establishment clause...

• Ex Parte Newman (Calif. Supreme Court) (1858)

  In Ex Parte Newman, the California Supreme Court in 1858 issued what is believed to be the only 19th-century case in the U.S. that overturned a law designed to...

• Flast v. Cohen (1968)

  Flast v. Cohen (1968) said that taxpayers had standing under the First Amendment to sue to prevent the use of their taxes to fund religious instruction...

• Gillette v. United States (1971)

  In Gillette v. United States, the court denied a draft exemption to a man who refused to participate in the Vietnam War but would have fought in a war of self...

• Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001)

  Good News Club v. Milford Central School decided that school districts cannot prohibit First Amendment free speech of groups seeking access to the district’s...

• Hernandez v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1989)

  Hernandez v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1989) said preventing tax deductions from monies used for religious "training" sessions did not violate the First...

• Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC (2012)

  Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC (2012) was the first time the Court used a “ministerial exception” as First Amendment basis for rejecting an employment discrimination...

• Hunt v. McNair (1973)

  In Hunt v. McNair (1973), the Court said allowing religious colleges to use state bonds to finance non-religious buildings did not violate the First Amendment...

• Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education (1948 )

  Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education (1948) overturned an arrangement whereby public schools provided religious training during regular school hours...

• Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022)

  In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Supreme Court ruled that a coach-led prayer on the 50-yard line did not violate the establishment clause of the...

• Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (M.D. Pa.) (2005)

  In Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (M.D. Pa. 2005), a judge ruled that requiring teachers to teach both Intelligent Design and evolution violated the...

• Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School District (1993)

  Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches School District (1993) said that a law banning a religious group from using a public school to show a religious film violated...

• Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc. (1982)

  In Larkin v. Grendel's Den (1982), the Supreme Court said a state law giving churches the ability to veto liquor license applications violated the First...

• Larson v. Valente (1982)

  Larson v. Valente (1982) said a statute requiring churches who received less than 50 percent of their funds from members to file certain reports violated the...

• Lee v. Weisman (1992)

  Lee v. Weisman (1992) ruled that public schools violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment when they lead students in public prayer at school...

• Lemon v. Kurtzman I (1971)

  Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) said the First Amendment prohibited government from providing funds to church-run schools. It established the Lemon Test for...

• Lemon v. Kurtzman II (1973)

  Lemon v. Kurzman II (1973) said the ruling prohibiting government from funding religious schools did not mean retroactive payments violated the First Amendment...

• Levitt v. Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty (1973)

  Levitt v. Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty (1973) said that payments to religious schools for state-mandated testing violated the First...

• Locke v. Davey (2004)

  Locke v. Davey (2004) said a scholarship program in Washington state that did not allow a student to major in theology did not violate his First Amendment...

• Lynch v. Donnelly (1984)

  Lynch v. Donnelly (1984) upheld the inclusion of a manger scene in a Christmas display on government property against a First Amendment establishment clause...

• Marsh v. Chambers (1983)

  Marsh v. Chambers (1983) found that the practice of hiring a chaplain to open the legislative day with prayer did not violate the establishment clause of the...

• McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union (2005)

  McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union (2005) held 5-4 that Ten Commandment displays in Kentucky county courthouses violated the First Amendment's...

• McGowan v. Maryland (1961)

  In McGowan v. Maryland (1961) the Court found that the law limiting business operations on Sundays did not violate the establishment clause of the First...

• Mueller v. Allen (1983)

  Mueller v. Allen (1983) found that a law allowing tax deductions benefiting parochial schools was not in violation of the establishment clause of the First...

• Nurre v. Whitehead (2010)

  Nurre v. Whitehead (2010) involved a student, who alleged her First Amendment rights were violated when the band could not perform a religious instrumental at...

• Pleasant Grove v. Summum (2009)

  Pleasant Grove v. Summum (2009) determined a city could refuse to place a monument in a public park because it was a form of government speech immune from First...

• Presbyterian Church in the United States v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church (1969)

  Presbyterian Church in the United States v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church (1969) denied courts the authority to interpret doctrine in...

• Quick Bear v. Leupp (1908)

  Quick Bear v. Leupp (1908) ruled that expenditures from Native American treaty trust funds for Catholic schools on reservations did not violate the First...

• Roemer v. Board of Public Works of Maryland (1976)

  Roemer v. Bd. of Public Works of Maryland (1976) said a program that gave grants to private colleges, including religious universities, did not violate the...

• Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995)

  Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995) ruled that the denial of student funds to a Christian-based magazine violated the First...

• Runkel v. Winemiller (1799)

  Runkel v. Winemiller (1779) gives insight into how early America viewed the First Amendment. The case involved the Maryland Court of Appeal's intervention in a...

• Salazar v. Buono (2010)

  Salazar v. Buono (2010) said that transferring a cross from public land to private land was not an endorsement of religion and did not violate the First...

• Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000)

  In Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, the Court ruled that a school policy of beginning football games with student-led prayer violated the First...

• Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich (1976)

  Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich (1976) ruled that the First Amendment prevented the state from becoming entangled in hierarchical church...

• Shurtleff v. Boston (2022)

  The Supreme Court ruled in 2022 in Shurtleff v. Boston determined that, in this instance, flying a Christian flag on a city flagpole at the request of a...

• Sloan v. Lemon (1973)

  Sloan v. Lemon (1973) struck down a Pennsylvania law providing tuition reimbursement for children in private schools, finding it violated the First Amendment...

• Smith v. Swormstedt (1853)

  Although church and state institutions operate separately under the First Amendment, government has intervened on internal church matters such as in Smith v....

• Stone v. Graham (1980)

  Stone v. Graham (1980) said a law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in every school classroom violated the establishment clause of the First...

• Thornton v. Caldor (1985)

  Thornton v. Caldor (1985) found a state law that gave employees an absolute right not to work on their chosen Sabbath violated the establishment clause of the...

• Tilton v. Richardson (1971)

  Tilton v. Richardson (1971) found an act permitting federal aid for secular buildings at religious universities did not violate the religious clauses of the...

• Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014)

  Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014) ruled a town’s practice of having prayer before town meetings did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First...

• Trustees of the New Life in Christ Church v. City of Fredericksburg (2022)

  The Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal in which a Virginia church argued that the government could not determine who was a minister or not in denying...

• Tudor v. Board of Education of Borough of Rutherford (N.J.) (1953)

  The New Jersey Supreme Court in 1953 ruled that Bible distribution in public schools by the Gideons violated the First Amendment establishment clause in Tudor v...

• Two Guys from Harrison- Allentown, Inc. v. McGinley (1961)

  Two Guys from Harrison-Allentown, Inc. v. McGinley (1960) ruled that Sunday blue laws did not violate the the establishment clause of the First Amendment...

• United States v. Seeger (1965)

  In 1965, the Supreme Court expanded the concept of religion that is protected under the First Amendment in a case involving a conscientious objector who did not...

• Utah Highway Patrol Association v. American Atheists, Inc. (2011)

  The Supreme Court in 2011 declined to hear a case in which a lower court had ruled Utah Highway Patrol's roadside crosses violated the establishment clause of...

• Van Orden v. Perry (2005)

  Van Orden v. Perry (2005) ruled that a monument depicting the Ten Commandments in public park did not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment...

• Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)

  Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) struck down a state law requiring a minute of silence in public schools. The Court said the law had a religious purpose and violated...

• Watson v. Jones (1871)

  Watson v. Jones (1871) said the Court would resolve church property disputes on a basis other than church doctrine, furthering the goals of the First Amendment...

• Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)

  In his dissent in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989), Justice Stevens said that a legislative declaration that life begins at conception violated...

• Widmar v. Vincent (1981)

  Widmar v. Vincent (1981) said that prohibiting religious use of the University of Missouri's buildings while allowing secular use violated the First Amendment...

• Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind (1986 )

  Witters v. Washington Department of Services for the Blind (1986) said a program that provided funds that a man used for religious education did not violate the...

• Wolman v. Walter (1977)

  Wolman v. Walter (1977) struck down parts of a law that provided funds to nonpublic schools, including religious schools, as a violation of the First Amendment...

• Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)

  In Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), the Supreme Court said a state program allowing taxpayer money to fund school vouchers did not violate the First Amendment...

• Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District (1993)

  Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District (1993) said the First Amendment did not prohibit a school district from providing a sign-language interpreter to...

• Zorach v. Clauson (1952)

  Zorach v. Clauson (1952) said the released time policy of New York violated neither the free exercise nor establishment clause of the First Amendment...