A 40-foot cross that honors 49 fallen World War I soldiers from Prince George’s County stands at the busy intersection of Bladensberg and Annapolis roads and Baltimore Avenue Feb. 28, 2019, in Bladensburg, Maryland. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Legal scholars agree that the Lemon Test has failed to bring clarity to the law, resulting in confusion and myriad lawsuits. On June 20, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the historic Bladensburg Memorial Cross – also known as the Peace Cross – could remain on public property in Bladensburg, Maryland. The Court voted 7-2 in the case, American Legion v. American Humanist Association, ruling that the cross could remain standing without violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. In reaching their decision, the Justices considered the “Lemon Test,” the three-pronged guide first delineated in the Supreme Court’s 1971 case of Lemon v. Kurtzman . In that controversial ruling, the Court listed three considerations which must be applied when evaluating whether a government action violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment: (1) there must be a secular legislative purpose; (2) the action must neither advance nor inhibit religion; and (3) it must not create an excessive entanglement with religion. […]
