Agostini v Felton and the Court's Modification of the Lemon Test

Abstract

This brief Article discusses the Supreme Court’s decision in Agostini v. Felton. The Agostini decision overruled the Court’s earlier decision in Aguilar v. Felton, which held that the Establishment Clause precluded publicly funded teachers from teaching secular, remedial courses in religious schools under a federally funded program that supported teaching at all schools, religious and non-religious. By overruling Aguilar, the Court refashioned the Lemon test in a way that became more accommodating of government interaction with religion.