WALLACE v. JAFFREE
JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.
JUSTICE WHITE, dissenting.
CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER, dissenting.
JUSTICE POWELL, concurring.
Thirty-eight years ago this Court, in Everson v. Board of Education, 330
U.S. 1, 16 (1947), summarized its exegesis of Establishment Clause doctrine
thus:
"In the words of Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect 'a wall of separation between church and State.' Reynolds v. United States, [98 U.S. 145, 164 (1879)]."
This language from Reynolds, a case involving the Free Exercise Clause
of the First Amendment rather than the Establishment Clause, quoted from
Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association the phrase "I
contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people
which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall
of separation between church and State." 8 Writings of Thomas Jefferson 113
(H. Washington ed. 1861). 1
It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine upon a mistaken
understanding of constitutional history, but unfortunately the Establishment
Clause has been expressly freighted with Jefferson's misleading metaphor
for nearly 40 years. Thomas Jefferson was of course in France at the time
the constitutional Amendments known as the Bill of Rights were passed by
Congress and ratified by the States. His letter to the Danbury Baptist Association
was a short note of courtesy, written 14 years after the Amendments were
passed by Congress. He would seem to any detached observer as a less than
ideal source of contemporary history as to the meaning of the Religion Clauses
of the First Amendment.
Jefferson's fellow Virginian, James Madison, with whom he was joined in
the battle for the enactment of the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty
of 1786, did play as large a part as anyone in the drafting of the Bill of
Rights. He had two advantages over Jefferson in this regard: he was present
in the United States, and he was a leading Member of the First Congress.
But when we turn to the record of the proceedings in the First Congress leading
up to the adoption of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, including
Madison's significant contributions thereto, we see a far different picture
of its purpose than the highly simplified "wall of separation between church
and State."
During the debates in the Thirteen Colonies over ratification of the Constitution,
one of the arguments frequently used by opponents of ratification was that
without a Bill of Rights guaranteeing individual liberty the new general
Government carried with it a potential for tyranny. The typical response
to this argument on the part of those who favored ratification was that the
general Government established by the Constitution had only delegated powers,
and that these delegated powers were so limited that the Government would
have no occasion to violate individual liberties. This response satisfied
some, but not others, and of the 11 Colonies which ratified the Constitution
by early 1789, 5 proposed one or another amendments guaranteeing individual
liberty. Three -- New Hampshire, New York, and Virginia -- included in one
form or another a declaration of religious freedom. See 3 J. Elliot, Debates
on the Federal Constitution 659 (1891); 1 id., at 328. Rhode Island and North
Carolina flatly refused to ratify the Constitution in the absence of amendments
in the nature of a Bill of Rights. 1 id., at 334; 4 id., at 244. Virginia
and North Carolina proposed identical guarantees of religious freedom:
"[All] men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience, and . . . no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established, by law, in preference to others." 3 id., at 659; 4 id., at 244. 2
On June 8, 1789, James Madison rose in the House of Representatives and
"reminded the House that this was the day that he had heretofore named for
bringing forward amendments to the Constitution." 1 Annals of Cong. 424.
Madison's subsequent remarks in urging the House to adopt his drafts of the
proposed amendments were less those of a dedicated advocate of the wisdom
of such measures than those of a prudent statesman seeking the enactment
of measures sought by a number of his fellow citizens which could surely
do no harm and might do a great deal of good. He said, inter alia:
"It appears to me that this House is bound by every motive of prudence, not to let the first session pass over without proposing to the State Legislatures, some things to be incorporated into the Constitution, that will render it as acceptable to the whole people of the United States, as it has been found acceptable to a majority of them. I wish, among other reasons why something should be done, that those who had been friendly to the adoption of this Constitution may have the opportunity of proving to those who were opposed to it that they were as sincerely devoted to liberty and a Republican Government, as those who charged them with wishing the adoption of this Constitution in order to lay the foundation of an aristocracy or despotism. It will be a desirable thing to extinguish from the bosom of every member of the community, any apprehensions that there are those among his countrymen who wish to deprive them of the liberty for which they valiantly fought and honorably bled. And if there are amendments desired of such a nature as will not injure the Constitution, and they can be ingrafted so as to give satisfaction to the doubting part of our fellow-citizens, the friends of the Federal Government will evince that spirit of deference and concession for which they have hitherto been distinguished." Id., at 431-432.
The language Madison proposed for what ultimately became the Religion Clauses
of the First Amendment was this:
"The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed." Id., at 434.
On the same day that Madison proposed them, the amendments which formed
the basis for the Bill of Rights were referred by the House to a Committee
of the Whole, and after several weeks' delay were then referred to a Select
Committee consisting of Madison and 10 others. The Committee revised Madison's
proposal regarding the establishment of religion to read:
"[No] religion shall be established by law, nor shall the equal rights of conscience be infringed." Id., at 729.
The Committee's proposed revisions were debated in the House on August
15, 1789. The entire debate on the Religion Clauses is contained in two full
columns of the "Annals," and does not seem particularly illuminating. See
id., at 729-731. Representative Peter Sylvester of New York expressed his
dislike for the revised version, because it might have a tendency "to abolish
religion altogether." Representative John Vining suggested that the two parts
of the sentence be transposed; Representative Elbridge Gerry thought the
language should be changed to read "that no religious doctrine shall be established
by law." Id., at 729. Roger Sherman of Connecticut had the traditional reason
for opposing provisions of a Bill of Rights -- that Congress had no delegated
authority to "make religious establishments" -- and therefore he opposed
the adoption of the amendment. Representative Daniel Carroll of Maryland
thought it desirable to adopt the words proposed, saying "[he] would not
contend with gentlemen about the phraseology, his object was to secure the
substance in such a manner as to satisfy the wishes of the honest part of
the community."
Madison then spoke, and said that "he apprehended the meaning of the words
to be, that Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal
observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any manner contrary
to their conscience." Id., at 730. He said that some of the state conventions
had thought that Congress might rely on the Necessary and Proper Clause to
infringe the rights of conscience or to establish a national religion, and
" to prevent these effects he presumed the amendment was intended, and he
thought it as well expressed as the nature of the language would admit."
Ibid.
Representative Benjamin Huntington then expressed the view that the Committee's
language might "be taken in such latitude as to be extremely hurtful to the
cause of religion. He understood the amendment to mean what had been expressed
by the gentleman from Virginia; but others might find it convenient to put
another construction upon it." Huntington, from Connecticut, was concerned
that in the New England States, where state-established religions were the
rule rather than the exception, the federal courts might not be able to entertain
claims based upon an obligation under the bylaws of a religious organization
to contribute to the support of a minister or the building of a place of
worship. He hoped that "the amendment would be made in such a way as to secure
the rights of conscience, and a free exercise of the rights of religion,
but not to patronise those who professed no religion at all." Id., at 730-731.
Madison responded that the insertion of the word "national" before the
word "religion" in the Committee version should satisfy the minds of those
who had criticized the language. "He believed that the people feared one
sect might obtain a pre-eminence, or two combine together, and establish
a religion to which they would compel others to conform. He thought that if
the word 'national' was introduced, it would point the amendment directly
to the object it was intended to prevent." Id., at 731. Representative Samuel
Livermore expressed himself as dissatisfied with Madison's proposed amendment,
and thought it would be better if the Committee language were altered to
read that "Congress shall make no laws touching religion, or infringing the
rights of conscience." Ibid.
Representative Gerry spoke in opposition to the use of the word "national"
because of strong feelings expressed during the ratification debates that
a federal government, not a national government, was created by the Constitution.
Madison thereby withdrew his proposal but insisted that his reference to
a "national religion" only referred to a national establishment and did not
mean that the Government was a national one. The question was taken on Representative
Livermore's motion, which passed by a vote of 31 for and 20 against. Ibid.
The following week, without any apparent debate, the House voted to alter
the language of the Religion Clauses to read "Congress shall make no law
establishing religion, or to prevent the free exercise thereof, or to infringe
the rights of conscience." Id., at 766. The floor debates in the Senate were
secret, and therefore not reported in the Annals. The Senate on September
3, 1789, considered several different forms of the Religion Amendment, and
reported this language back to the House:
"Congress shall make no law establishing articles of faith or a mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exercise of religion." C. Antieau, A. Downey, & E. Roberts, Freedom From Federal Establishment 130 (1964).
The House refused to accept the Senate's changes in the Bill of Rights
and asked for a conference; the version which emerged from the conference
was that which ultimately found its way into the Constitution as a part of
the First Amendment.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
The House and the Senate both accepted this language on successive days,
and the Amendment was proposed in this form.
On the basis of the record of these proceedings in the House of Representatives, James Madison was undoubtedly the most important architect among the Members of the House of the Amendments which became the Bill of Rights, but it was James Madison speaking as an advocate of sensible legislative compromise, not as an advocate of incorporating the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty into the United States Constitution. During the ratification debate in the Virginia Convention, Madison had actually opposed the idea of any Bill of Rights. His sponsorship of the Amendments in the House was obviously not that of a zealous believer in the necessity of the Religion Clauses, but of one who felt it might do some good, could do no harm, and would satisfy those who had ratified the Constitution on the condition that Congress propose a Bill of Rights. 3 His original language "nor shall any national religion be established" obviously does not conform to the "wall of separation" between church and State idea which latter-day commentators have ascribed to him. His explanation on the floor of the meaning of his language -- "that Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal observation of it by law" is of the same ilk. When he replied to Huntington in the debate over the proposal which came from the Select Committee of the House, he urged that the language "no religion shall be established by law" should be amended by inserting the word "national" in front of the word "religion."
It seems indisputable from these glimpses of Madison's thinking, as reflected
by actions on the floor of the House in 1789, that he saw the Amendment as
designed to prohibit the establishment of a national religion, and perhaps
to prevent discrimination among sects. He did not see it as requiring neutrality
on the part of government between religion and irreligion. Thus the Court's
opinion in Everson -- while correct in bracketing Madison and Jefferson together
in their exertions in their home State leading to the enactment of the Virginia
Statute of Religious Liberty -- is totally incorrect in suggesting that Madison
carried these views onto the floor of the United States House of Representatives
when he proposed the language which would ultimately become the Bill of Rights.
The repetition of this error in the Court's opinion in Illinois ex rel.
McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948), and, inter alia, Engel
v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962), does not make it any sounder historically.
Finally, in Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 214 (1963),
the Court made the truly remarkable statement that "the views of Madison
and Jefferson, preceded by Roger Williams, came to be incorporated not only
in the Federal Constitution but likewise in those of most of our States"
(footnote omitted). On the basis of what evidence we have, this statement
is demonstrably incorrect as a matter of history. 4 And its repetition in varying forms in succeeding opinions
of the Court can give it no more authority than it possesses as a matter
of fact; stare decisis may bind courts as to matters of law, but it cannot
bind them as to matters of history.
None of the other Members of Congress who spoke during the August 15th
debate expressed the slightest indication that they thought the language
before them from the Select Committee, or the evil to be aimed at, would
require that the Government be absolutely neutral as between religion and
irreligion. The evil to be aimed at, so far as those who spoke were concerned,
appears to have been the establishment of a national church, and perhaps
the preference of one religious sect over another; but it was definitely
not concerned about whether the Government might aid all religions evenhandedly.
If one were to follow the advice of JUSTICE BRENNAN, concurring in Abington
School District v. Schempp, supra, at 236, and construe the Amendment in
the light of what particular "practices . . . challenged threaten those consequences
which the Framers deeply feared; whether, in short, they tend to promote
that type of interdependence between religion and state which the First Amendment
was designed to prevent," one would have to say that the First Amendment
Establishment Clause should be read no more broadly than to prevent the establishment
of a national religion or the governmental preference of one religious sect
over another.
The actions of the First Congress, which reenacted the Northwest Ordinance
for the governance of the Northwest Territory in 1789, confirm the view that
Congress did not mean that the Government should be neutral between religion
and irreligion. The House of Representatives took up the Northwest Ordinance
on the same day as Madison introduced his proposed amendments which became
the Bill of Rights; while at that time the Federal Government was of course
not bound by draft amendments to the Constitution which had not yet been
proposed by Congress, say nothing of ratified by the States, it seems highly
unlikely that the House of Representatives would simultaneously consider
proposed amendments to the Constitution and enact an important piece of territorial
legislation which conflicted with the intent of those proposals. The Northwest
Ordinance, 1 Stat. 50, reenacted the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and provided
that "[religion], morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government
and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever
be encouraged." Id., at 52, n. (a). Land grants for schools in the Northwest
Territory were not limited to public schools. It was not until 1845 that Congress
limited land grants in the new States and Territories to nonsectarian schools.
5 Stat. 788; C. Antieau, A. Downey, & E. Roberts, Freedom From Federal
Establishment 163 (1964).
On the day after the House of Representatives voted to adopt the form
of the First Amendment Religion Clauses which was ultimately proposed and
ratified, Representative Elias Boudinot proposed a resolution asking President
George Washington to issue a Thanksgiving Day proclamation. Boudinot said
he "could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an
opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining with one
voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many blessings
he had poured down upon them." 1 Annals of Cong. 914 (1789). Representative
Aedanas Burke objected to the resolution because he did not like "this mimicking
of European customs"; Representative Thomas Tucker objected that whether
or not the people had reason to be satisfied with the Constitution was something
that the States knew better than the Congress, and in any event "it is a
religious matter, and, as such, is proscribed to us." Id., at 915. Representative
Sherman supported the resolution "not only as a laudable one in itself, but
as warranted by a number of precedents in Holy Writ: for instance, the solemn
thanksgivings and rejoicings which took place in the time of Solomon, after
the building of the temple, was a case in point. This example, he thought,
worthy of Christian imitation on the present occasion . . . ." Ibid.
Boudinot's resolution was carried in the affirmative on September 25,
1789. Boudinot and Sherman, who favored the Thanksgiving Proclamation, voted
in favor of the adoption of the proposed amendments to the Constitution,
including the Religion Clauses; Tucker, who opposed the Thanksgiving Proclamation,
voted against the adoption of the amendments which became the Bill of Rights.
Within two weeks of this action by the House, George Washington responded
to the Joint Resolution which by now had been changed to include the language
that the President "recommend to the people of the United States a day of
public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful
hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording
them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their
safety and happiness." 1 J. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents,
1789-1897, p. 64 (1897). The Presidential Proclamation was couched in these
words:
"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
"And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best." Ibid.
George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison all issued Thanksgiving
Proclamations; Thomas Jefferson did not, saying:
"Fasting and prayer are religious exercises; the enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the Constitution has deposited it." 11 Writings of Thomas Jefferson 429 (A. Lipscomb ed. 1904).
As the United States moved from the 18th into the 19th century, Congress
appropriated time and again public moneys in support of sectarian Indian
education carried on by religious organizations. Typical of these was Jefferson's
treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians, which provided annual cash support for
the Tribe's Roman Catholic priest and church. 5 It was not until 1897, when aid to sectarian education
for Indians had reached $ 500,000 annually, that Congress Decided thereafter
to cease appropriating money for education in sectarian schools. See Act
of June 7, 1897, 30 Stat. 62, 79; cf. Quick Bear v. Leupp, 210 U.S. 50, 77-79
(1908); J. O'Neill, Religion and Education Under the Constitution 118-119
(1949). See generally R. Cord, Separation of Church and State 61-82 (1982).
This history shows the fallacy of the notion found in Everson that "no tax
in any amount" may be levied for religious activities in any form. 330 U.S.,
at 15-16.
Joseph Story, a Member of this Court from 1811 to 1845, and during much
of that time a professor at the Harvard Law School, published by far the
most comprehensive treatise on the United States Constitution that had then
appeared. Volume 2 of Story's Commentaries on the Constitution of the United
States 630-632 (5th ed. 1891) discussed the meaning of the Establishment
Clause of the First Amendment this way:
"Probably at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and of the
amendment to it now under consideration [First Amendment], the general if
not the universal sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive
encouragement from the State so far as was not incompatible with the private
rights of conscience and the freedom of religious worship. An attempt to
level all religions, and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in
utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal
indignation.
. . . .
"The real object of the [First] [Amendment] was not to countenance, much less to advance, Mahometanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity; but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects, and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment which should give to a hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government. It thus cut off the means of religious persecution (the vice and pest of former ages), and of the subversion of the rights of conscience in matters of religion, which had been trampled upon almost from the days of the Apostles to the present age. . . ." (Footnotes omitted.)
Thomas Cooley's eminence as a legal authority rivaled that of Story. Cooley
stated in his treatise entitled Constitutional Limitations that aid to a
particular religious sect was prohibited by the United States Constitution,
but he went on to say:
"But while thus careful to establish, protect, and defend religious freedom and equality, the American constitutions contain no provisions which prohibit the authorities from such solemn recognition of a superintending Providence in public transactions and exercises as the general religious sentiment of mankind inspires, and as seems meet and proper in finite and dependent beings. Whatever may be the shades of religious belief, all must acknowledge the fitness of recognizing in important human affairs the superintending care and control of the Great Governor of the Universe, and of acknowledging with thanksgiving his boundless favors, or bowing in contrition when visited with the penalties of his broken laws. No principle of constitutional law is violated when thanksgiving or fast days are appointed; when chaplains are designated for the army and navy; when legislative sessions are opened with prayer or the reading of the Scriptures, or when religious teaching is encouraged by a general exemption of the houses of religious worship from taxation for the support of State government. Undoubtedly the spirit of the Constitution will require, in all these cases, that care be taken to avoid discrimination in favor of or against any one religious denomination or sect; but the power to do any of these things does not become unconstitutional simply because of its susceptibility to abuse. . . ." Id., at *470-*471.
Cooley added that
"[this] public recognition of religious worship, however, is not based entirely, perhaps not even mainly, upon a sense of what is due to the Supreme Being himself as the author of all good and of all law; but the same reasons of state policy which induce the government to aid institutions of charity and seminaries of instruction will incline it also to foster religious worship and religious institutions, as conservators of the public morals and valuable, if not indispensable, assistants to the preservation of the public order." Id., at *470.
It would seem from this evidence that the Establishment Clause of the
First Amendment had acquired a well-accepted meaning: it forbade establishment
of a national religion, and forbade preference among religious sects or denominations.
Indeed, the first American dictionary defined the word "establishment" as
"the act of establishing, founding, ratifying or ordaining," such as in "[the]
episcopal form of religion, so called, in England." 1 N. Webster, American
Dictionary of the English Language (1st ed. 1828). The Establishment Clause
did not require government neutrality between religion and irreligion nor
did it prohibit the Federal Government from providing nondiscriminatory aid
to religion. There is simply no historical foundation for the proposition
that the Framers intended to build the "wall of separation" that was constitutionalized
in Everson.
Notwithstanding the absence of a historical basis for this theory of rigid
separation, the wall idea might well have served as a useful albeit misguided
analytical concept, had it led this Court to unified and principled results
in Establishment Clause cases. The opposite, unfortunately, has been true;
in the 38 years since Everson our Establishment Clause cases have been neither
principled nor unified. Our recent opinions, many of them hopelessly divided
pluralities, 6 have with embarrassing candor
conceded that the "wall of separation" is merely a "blurred, indistinct,
and variable barrier," which "is not wholly accurate" and can only be "dimly
perceived." Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, 614 (1971); Tilton v. Richardson,
403 U.S. 672, 677-678, (1971); Wolman v. Walter, 433 U.S. 229, 236 (1977);
Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668, 673 (1984).
Whether due to its lack of historical support or its practical unworkability,
the Everson "wall" has proved all but useless as a guide to sound constitutional
adjudication. It illustrates only too well the wisdom of Benjamin Cardozo's
observation that "[metaphors] in law are to be narrowly watched, for starting
as devices to liberate thought, they end often by enslaving it." Berkey v.
Third Avenue R. Co., 244 N. Y. 84, 94, 155 N. E. 58, 61 (1926).
But the greatest injury of the "wall" notion is its mischievous diversion
of judges from the actual intentions of the drafters of the Bill of Rights.
The "crucible of litigation," ante, at 52, is well adapted to adjudicating
factual disputes on the basis of testimony presented in court, but no amount
of repetition of historical errors in judicial opinions can make the errors
true. The "wall of separation between church and State" is a metaphor based
on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging.
It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.
The Court has more recently attempted to add some mortar to Everson's wall
through the three-part test of Lemon v. Kurtzman, supra, at 614-615, which
served at first to offer a more useful test for purposes of the Establishment
Clause than did the "wall" metaphor. Generally stated, the Lemon test proscribes
state action that has a sectarian purpose or effect, or causes an impermissible
governmental entanglement with religion.
Lemon cited Board of Education v. Allen, 392 U.S. 236, 243 (1968), as
the source of the "purpose" and "effect" prongs of the three-part test. The
Allen opinion explains, however, how it inherited the purpose and effect
elements from Schempp and Everson, both of which contain the historical errors
described above. See Allen, supra, at 243. Thus the purpose and effect prongs
have the same historical deficiencies as the wall concept itself: they are
in no way based on either the language or intent of the drafters.
The secular purpose prong has proved mercurial in application because
it has never been fully defined, and we have never fully stated how the test
is to operate. If the purpose prong is intended to void those aids to sectarian
institutions accompanied by a stated legislative purpose to aid religion,
the prong will condemn nothing so long as the legislature utters a secular
purpose and says nothing about aiding religion. Thus the constitutionality
of a statute may depend upon what the legislators put into the legislative
history and, more importantly, what they leave out. The purpose prong means
little if it only requires the legislature to express any secular purpose
and omit all sectarian references, because legislators might do just that.
Faced with a valid legislative secular purpose, we could not properly ignore
that purpose without a factual basis for doing so. Larson v. Valente, 456
U.S. 228, 262-263 (1982) (WHITE, J., dissenting).
However, if the purpose prong is aimed to void all statutes enacted with
the intent to aid sectarian institutions, whether stated or not, then most
statutes providing any aid, such as textbooks or bus rides for sectarian
school children, will fail because one of the purposes behind every statute,
whether stated or not, is to aid the target of its largesse. In other words,
if the purpose prong requires an absence of any intent to aid sectarian institutions,
whether or not expressed, few state laws in this area could pass the test,
and we would be required to void some state aids to religion which we have
already upheld. E. g., Allen, supra.
The entanglement prong of the Lemon test came from Walz v. Tax Comm'n,
397 U.S. 664, 674 (1970). Walz involved a constitutional challenge to New
York's time-honored practice of providing state property tax exemptions to
church property used in worship. The Walz opinion refused to "undermine the
ultimate constitutional objective [of the Establishment Clause] as illuminated
by history," id., at 671, and upheld the tax exemption. The Court examined
the historical relationship between the State and church when church property
was in issue, and determined that the challenged tax exemption did not so
entangle New York with the church as to cause an intrusion or interference
with religion. Interferences with religion should arguably be dealt with
under the Free Exercise Clause, but the entanglement inquiry in Walz was
consistent with that case's broad survey of the relationship between state
taxation and religious property.
We have not always followed Walz' reflective inquiry into entanglement,
however. E. g., Wolman, supra, at 254. One of the difficulties with the entanglement
prong is that, when divorced from the logic of Walz, it creates an "insoluable
paradox" in school aid cases: we have required aid to parochial schools to
be closely watched lest it be put to sectarian use, yet this close supervision
itself will create an entanglement. Roemer v. Maryland Bd. of Public Works,
426 U.S. 736, 768-769 (1976) (WHITE, J., concurring in judgment). For example,
in Wolman, supra, the Court in part struck the State's nondiscriminatory
provision of buses for parochial school field trips, because the state supervision
of sectarian officials in charge of field trips would be too onerous. This
type of self-defeating result is certainly not required to ensure that States
do not establish religions.
The entanglement test as applied in cases like Wolman also ignores the
myriad state administrative regulations properly placed upon sectarian institutions
such as curriculum, attendance, and certification requirements for sectarian
schools, or fire and safety regulations for churches. Avoiding entanglement
between church and State may be an important consideration in a case like
Walz, but if the entanglement prong were applied to all state and church
relations in the automatic manner in which it has been applied to school aid
cases, the State could hardly require anything of church-related institutions
as a condition for receipt of financial assistance.
These difficulties arise because the Lemon test has no more grounding in
the history of the First Amendment than does the wall theory upon which it
rests. The three-part test represents a determined effort to craft a workable
rule from a historically faulty doctrine; but the rule can only be as sound
as the doctrine it attempts to service. The three-part test has simply not
provided adequate standards for deciding Establishment Clause cases, as this
Court has slowly come to realize. Even worse, the Lemon test has caused this
Court to fracture into unworkable plurality opinions, see n. 6, supra, depending
upon how each of the three factors applies to a certain state action. The
results from our school services cases show the difficulty we have encountered
in making the Lemon test yield principled results.
For example, a State may lend to parochial school children geography textbooks
7 that contain maps of the United States,
but the State may not lend maps of the United States for use in geography
class. 8A State may lend textbooks on
American colonial history, but it may not lend a film on George Washington,
or a film projector to show it in history class. A State may lend classroom
workbooks, but may not lend workbooks in which the parochial school children
write, thus rendering them nonreusable. 9
A State may pay for bus transportation to religious schools 10but may not pay for bus transportation
from the parochial school to the public zoo or natural history museum for
a field trip.11 A State may pay for
diagnostic services conducted in the parochial school but therapeutic services
must be given in a different building; speech and hearing "services" conducted
by the State inside the sectarian school are forbidden, Meek v. Pittenger,
421 U.S. 349, 367, 371 (1975), but the State may conduct speech and hearing
diagnostic testing inside the sectarian school. Wolman, 433 U.S., at 241.
Exceptional parochial school students may receive counseling, but it must
take place outside of the parochial school, 12such as in a trailer parked down the street. Id., at 245.
A State may give cash to a parochial school to pay for the administration
of state-written tests and state-ordered reporting services, 13but it may not provide funds for teacher-prepared
tests on secular subjects. 14 Religious
instruction may not be given in public school, 15but the public school may release students during the
day for religion classes elsewhere, and may enforce attendance at those classes
with its truancy laws. 16
These results violate the historically sound principle "that the Establishment
Clause does not forbid governments . . . to [provide] general welfare under
which benefits are distributed to private individuals, even though many of
those individuals may elect to use those benefits in ways that 'aid' religious
instruction or worship." Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty
v. Nyquist, 413 U.S. 756, 799 (1973) (BURGER, C. J., concurring in part and
dissenting in part). It is not surprising in the light of this record that
our most recent opinions have expressed doubt on the usefulness of the Lemon
test.
Although the test initially provided helpful assistance, e. g., Tilton
v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 672 (1971), we soon began describing the test as
only a "guideline," Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty
v. Nyquist, supra, and lately we have described it as "no more than [a] useful
[signpost]." Mueller v. Allen, 463 U.S. 388, 394 (1983), citing Hunt v. McNair,
413 U.S. 734, 741 (1973); Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc., 459 U.S. 116 (1982).
We have noted that the Lemon test is "not easily applied," Meek, supra, at
358, and as JUSTICE WHITE noted in Committee for Public Education & Religious
Liberty v. Regan, 444 U.S. 646 (1980), under the Lemon test we have "[sacrificed]
clarity and predictability for flexibility." 444 U.S., at 662. In Lynch we
reiterated that the Lemon test has never been binding on the Court, and we
cited two cases where we had declined to apply it. 465 U.S., at 679, citing
Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983); Larson v. Valente, 456 U.S. 228 (1982).
If a constitutional theory has no basis in the history of the amendment
it seeks to interpret, is difficult to apply and yields unprincipled results,
I see little use in it. The "crucible of litigation," ante, at 52, has produced
only consistent unpredictability, and today's effort is just a continuation
of "the sisyphean task of trying to patch together the 'blurred, indistinct
and variable barrier' described in Lemon v. Kurtzman." Regan, supra, at 671
(STEVENS, J., dissenting). We have done much straining since 1947, but still
we admit that we can only "dimly perceive" the Everson wall. Tilton, supra.
Our perception has been clouded not by the Constitution but by the mists
of an unnecessary metaphor.
The true meaning of the Establishment Clause can only be seen in its history.
See Walz, 397 U.S., at 671-673; see also Lynch, supra, at 673-678. As drafters
of our Bill of Rights, the Framers inscribed the principles that control
today. Any deviation from their intentions frustrates the permanence of that
Charter and will only lead to the type of unprincipled decisionmaking that
has plagued our Establishment Clause cases since Everson.
The Framers intended the Establishment Clause to prohibit the designation
of any church as a "national" one. The Clause was also designed to stop the
Federal Government from asserting a preference for one religious denomination
or sect over others. Given the "incorporation" of the Establishment Clause
as against the States via the Fourteenth Amendment in Everson, States are
prohibited as well from establishing a religion or discriminating between
sects. As its history abundantly shows, however, nothing in the Establishment
Clause requires government to be strictly neutral between religion and irreligion,
nor does that Clause prohibit Congress or the States from pursuing legitimate
secular ends through nondiscriminatory sectarian means.
The Court strikes down the Alabama statute because the State wished to
"characterize prayer as a favored practice." Ante, at 60. It would come as
much of a shock to those who drafted the Bill of Rights as it will to a large
number of thoughtful Americans today to learn that the Constitution, as construed
by the majority, prohibits the Alabama Legislature from "endorsing" prayer.
George Washington himself, at the request of the very Congress which passed
the Bill of Rights, proclaimed a day of "public thanksgiving and prayer,
to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal
favors of Almighty God." History must judge whether it was the Father of
his Country in 1789, or a majority of the Court today, which has strayed
from the meaning of the Establishment Clause.
The State surely has a secular interest in regulating the manner in which
public schools are conducted. Nothing in the Establishment Clause of the
First Amendment, properly understood, prohibits any such generalized "endorsement"
of prayer. I would therefore reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
---- Begin EndNotes ----
1 Reynolds is the only authority cited
as direct precedent for the "wall of separation theory." 330 U.S., at 16.
Reynolds is truly inapt; it dealt with a Mormon's Free Exercise Clause challenge
to a federal polygamy law.
2 The New York and Rhode Island proposals
were quite similar. They stated that no particular "religious sect or society
ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others." 1 Elliot's
Debates, at 328; id., at 334.
3 In a letter he sent to Jefferson in
France, Madison stated that he did not see much importance in a Bill of Rights
but he planned to support it because it was "anxiously desired by others
. . . [and] it might be of use, and if properly executed could not be of
disservice." 5 Writings of James Madison 271 (G. Hunt ed. 1904).
4 State establishments were prevalent
throughout the late 18th and early 19th centuries. See Mass. Const. of 1780,
Part 1, Art. III; N. H. Const. of 1784, Art. VI; Md. Declaration of Rights
of 1776, Art. XXXIII; R. I. Charter of 1633 (superseded 1842).
5 The treaty stated in part:
"And whereas, the greater part of said Tribe have been baptized and received
into the Catholic church, to which they are much attached, the United States
will give annually for seven years one hundred dollars towards the support
of a priest of that religion . . . [and] . . . three hundred dollars, to
assist the said Tribe in the erection of a church." 7 Stat. 79.
From 1789 to 1823 the United States Congress had provided a trust endowment
of up to 12,000 acres of land "for the Society of the United Brethren, for
propagating the Gospel among the Heathen." See, e. g., ch. 46, 1 Stat. 490.
The Act creating this endowment was renewed periodically and the renewals
were signed into law by Washington, Adams, and Jefferson.
Congressional grants for the aid of religion were not limited to Indians.
In 1787 Congress provided land to the Ohio Company, including acreage for
the support of religion. This grant was reauthorized in 1792. See 1 Stat.
257. In 1833 Congress authorized the State of Ohio to sell the land set aside
for religion and use the proceeds "for the support of religion . . . and
for no other use or purpose whatsoever. . . ." 4 Stat. 618-619.
6 Tilton v. Richardson 403 U.S. 672,
677 (1971); Meek v. Pittenger, 421 U.S. 349 (1975) (partial); Roemer v. Maryland
Bd. of Public Works, 426 U.S. 736 (1976); Wolman v. Walter, 433 U.S. 229
(1977).
Many of our other Establishment Clause cases have been decided by bare
5-4 majorities. Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v.
Regan, 444 U.S. 646 (1980); Larson v. Valente, 456 U.S. 228 (1982); Mueller
v. Allen, 463 U.S. 388 (1983); Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984); cf.
Levitt v. Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty, 413 U.S.
472 (1973).
7 Board of Education v. Allen, 392
U.S. 236 (1968).
8 Meek, 421 U.S., at 362-366. A science
book is permissible, a science kit is not. See Wolman, 433 U.S., at 249.
9 See Meek, supra, at 354-355, nn.
3, 4, 362-366.
10 Everson v. Board of Education,
330 U.S. 1 (1947).
11 Wolman, supra, at 252-255.
12 Wolman, supra, at 241-248; Meek,
supra, at 352, n. 2, 367-373.
13 Regan, 444 U.S., at 648, 657-659.
14 Levitt, 413 U.S., at 479-482.
15 Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board
of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948).
16 Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306
(1952).