Lynch v. Donnelly
E36509
Lynch v. Donnelly is a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the inclusion of a nativity scene in a city’s Christmas display and helped shape modern Establishment Clause analysis of government endorsement of religion.
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Establishment Clause case
→
First Amendment case → United States Supreme Court case → |
| appliesTo |
Establishment Clause
→
surface form:
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
|
| hasArgumentDate | 1983-10-04 → |
| hasCitation | 465 U.S. 668 → |
| hasConcurrenceBy |
Sandra Day O’Connor
→
surface form:
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
|
| hasCountry |
United States of America
→
surface form:
United States
|
| hasCourt | Supreme Court of the United States → |
| hasDecisionDate | 1984-03-05 → |
| hasDissentBy |
Justice Harry A. Blackmun
NERFINISHED
→
Justice John Paul Stevens NERFINISHED → Thurgood Marshall →
surface form:
Justice Thurgood Marshall
Justice William J. Brennan Jr. NERFINISHED → |
| hasDocketNumber | 82-1256 → |
| hasHolding | The inclusion of a nativity scene in a city’s Christmas display did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. → |
| hasJoinedMajority |
Byron R. White
→
surface form:
Justice Byron R. White
Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. NERFINISHED → Sandra Day O’Connor →
surface form:
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (concurring)
William H. Rehnquist →
surface form:
Justice William H. Rehnquist
William J. Brennan Jr. →
surface form:
Justice William J. Brennan Jr. (in part and dissent in part)
|
| hasJurisdiction | United States federal law → |
| hasKeyConcept |
endorsement test
→
excessive government entanglement with religion → primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion → secular purpose → |
| hasLegalIssue | Whether a municipality’s inclusion of a creche in a Christmas display constitutes an establishment of religion. → |
| hasLocation |
Pawtucket
→
surface form:
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
|
| hasMajorityOpinionBy |
Warren E. Burger
→
surface form:
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
|
| hasPage | 668 → |
| hasPetitioner | Dennis Lynch, Mayor of Pawtucket, Rhode Island → |
| hasReporter | United States Reports → |
| hasRespondent | Daniel Donnelly et al. → |
| hasSignificance |
Helped shape modern Establishment Clause analysis of government endorsement of religion.
→
Influenced later holiday display cases under the Establishment Clause. → Recognized that government may acknowledge the role of religion in American life in certain ceremonial contexts. → |
| hasSubjectMatter |
constitutional law
→
law and religion → |
| hasVolume | 465 → |
| hasVote | 5-4 → |
| involves |
government endorsement of religion
→
municipal Christmas display → nativity scene → |
| relatedCase |
County of Allegheny v. ACLU
→
Lemon v. Kurtzman → McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky → Van Orden v. Perry → |
| usesTest | Lemon test → |
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.