Lemon Test--Handy rules to determine Constitutional violations
In 1971, the Supreme Court decided Lemon v. Kurtzman which created three tests for determining whether a particular government act or policy unconstitutionally promotes religion. The Lemon test says that in order to be constitutional, a policy must: Have a non-religious purpose; Not end up promoting or favoring any set of religious beliefs; and Not overly involve the government with religion. Okay. So prayer sponsored by a public school fails #1 on its face. An invocation at a city council meeting by a Christian pastor fails #2. And deporting Muslims on an industrial scale fails #3.