Britannica Sources used in this answer

Why did Kennedy v. Bremerton School District abandon the Lemon test?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

First Amendment Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.

The Supreme Court officially abandoned the Lemon test in the 2022 decision Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.

The Court determined that the test, which had been used to evaluate Establishment Clause challenges since 1971, was no longer the appropriate standard. Instead of relying on the three-prong Lemon framework—which examined secular purpose, primary effect, and government entanglement—the Court ruled that the Establishment Clause must be interpreted by reference to "historical practices and understandings."

The majority opinion emphasized that the First Amendment’s clauses regarding the establishment and free exercise of religion have "complementary" purposes rather than "warring" ones. By moving away from Lemon and the related "endorsement test," the Court sought to resolve the ambiguities and inconsistencies that had long characterized the application of the Lemon test in church-state jurisprudence.1