Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School District
The Lamb's Chapel evangelical church sought to show a series of family lectures by James Dobson on school property.Writing for the court, Justice Byron White observed that the courts below missed the point: "That all religions and all uses for religious purposes are treated alike ... does not answer the critical question whether it discriminates on the basis of to permit school property to be used for the presentation of all views about family issues and child rearing except those dealing with the subject matter from a religious standpoint."The Court had, in passing, invoked the landmark Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) case, which remained good law, to the consternation of some of the concurring justices.Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote: Like some ghoul in a late-night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad, after being repeatedly killed and buried, Lemon stalks our Establishment Clause jurisprudence once again, frightening the little children and school attorneys of Center Moriches Union Free School District.Its most recent burial, only last Term, was, to be sure, not fully six feet under: Our decision in Lee v. Weisman conspicuously avoided using the supposed "test" but also declined the invitation to repudiate it.