Establishment Clause

Bar questions hand you a government program touching religion — a school-voucher plan, a legislative prayer, a Ten Commandments monument, a tax exemption — and make you pick the controlling test. The tell is the type of activity: for public displays and ceremonies, the answer now turns on whether the practice fits a long historical tradition (Town of Greece, Kennedy v. Bremerton); for school funding reaching religious schools, the hinge is neutral, private choice (Zelman, Carson v. Makin), and excluding religious options solely because they’re religious violates Free Exercise. Watch for the rare direct denominational preference, which still draws strict scrutiny (Larson v. Valente).

The classic trap is reflexively applying Lemon’s three prongs — Kennedy says the Court has abandoned that framework, though some older question banks still grade it. Don’t confuse this with Free Speech: a religious group’s equal access to a public forum is a free-speech/viewpoint issue, not an establishment problem (and denying access is the constitutional violation). Memory hook: history over Lemon, choice over coercion.