1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i No More Lemon Law? Supreme Court Rethinks Religious Establishment Analysis June 21, 2019 The Supreme Court weighed in on the constitutionality of public monuments involving crosses and other religious sym
2、bols when it issued its decision in American Legion v. American Humanist Association on June 20, 2019. Seven Justices agreed that the Bladensburg Peace Cross does not violate the First Amendments Establishment Clause. But several separate opinions revealed divisions among the Justices on how to appr
3、oach religious establishment claimsand more generally, disagreements about the proper role of sectarian religious displays in public life. As discussed in more detail in this previous Sidebar, American Legion presented the Court with the opportunity to fundamentally rethink its Establishment Clause
4、jurisprudence. While a majority of Justices appear to have abandoned a prior approach known as the Lemon test, at least in the context of government use of religious symbols, there was no single majority opinion agreeing on what test should apply in future Establishment Clause claims. The decision t