The Lemon v. Kurtzman case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972, addressed the issue of state laws allowing government funding for educational programs that included religious schools. The court ruled these laws unconstitutional as they violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause which prohibits any law respecting an establishment of religion. The plaintiffs were Pennsylvania parents and taxpayers who challenged a state statute permitting public funds to be used for materials and teacher salaries at private schools, including those with religious affiliations. In its decision, the court established what is now known as "the Lemon test" - a three-pronged standard used to assess whether a law violates the Establishment Clause: it must have a secular legislative purpose; its principal or primary effect must neither advance nor inhibit religion; and it should not foster excessive government entanglement with religion.

In the dissenting opinion for Lemon v. Kurtzman, Justice Byron White argued that the majority's decision to strike down Pennsylvania and Rhode Island's state laws providing financial support to non-public schools was incorrect. He contended that these programs did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as they were designed with secular legislative purposes in mind - namely improving education quality and promoting educational opportunity for all children regardless of their socioeconomic status. Furthermore, he believed there was no evidence suggesting these laws had a primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion; rather, they merely provided indirect economic benefit to religious institutions which is permissible under previous Court rulings. Lastly, he disagreed with the majority’s view on excessive entanglement between government and religion due to auditing requirements stating it would be minimal at best.