In the last three years alone, Liberty Counsel has won every case we argued or briefed before the U.S. Supreme Court. But one case in particular achieved a rare 9-0 unanimous decision at the Court, changing the landscape for religious freedom for generations to come.

The U.S. Supreme Court cited Liberty Counsel’s work in overturning the decades-old, activist-court-invented “Lemon test” that had been used to attack Christian values, symbols, faith and principles for 51 years.

The Court finally struck down the 51-year-old judicial activist decision known as Lemon v. Kurtzman. This is a resounding win for Free Speech and Free Exercise of Religion. Liberty Counsel was 3-0 in arguments we argued or briefed before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021. In 2022, our record before the High Court was 4-0. In 2023, we were 2-0 — and we’re not done winning!

Read on to learn about this monumental ruling and how Liberty Counsel’s 9-0 decision in the Boston Christian flag case helped bring about this game-changing religious freedom victory.

We thank God for these victories, but we need YOUR help to continue fighting for religious freedom, free speech and life. The last few years battling unbridled tyranny has stretched our team. And now, with the vaccine mandates and the exponential increase in work defending life in Congress and the states, we need your help. Please, consider a generous donation that will be DOUBLED in impact with by a special Challenge Grant supporting our legal fund. Read on — Mat

On January 18, 2022, I argued on behalf of Hal Shurtleff and Camp Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. The High Court ruled 9-0 in our favor on May 2, 2022.

The Court stated that the City of Boston violated the Constitution by censoring Camp Constitution’s private flag in a public forum open to “all applicants” merely because the application referred to it as a “Christian flag.” Contrary to the City of Boston’s position that flying the Christian flag violated the Establishment Clause, the Supreme Court ruled that censoring the Christian flag was, in fact, religious viewpoint discrimination and violated the First Amendment.

Months before the High Court issued its unanimous decision, I predicted the favorable outcome. I wrote, “There is a crucial difference between government endorsement of religion and private speech. Censoring religious viewpoints in a public forum where secular viewpoints are permitted is unconstitutional. This case will set national precedent.”

Indeed, it did. Besides triggering review of local and state government flag-flying policies nationwide, the Shurtleff decision was cited in the 6-3 SCOTUS ruling in favor of high school football coach Joe Kennedy, who was fired for silently praying on the field after games. 

Building on the 9-0 win in Shurtleff, the Supreme Court overturned a terrible 51-year-old precedent going back to the 1971 case known as Lemon v. Kurtzman. The so-called “Lemon test” had been used to censor religious words, symbols, images and displays. The dreadful Lemon test is now no more. The Shurtleff decision combined with the Coach Kennedy ruling set a new standard that provides greater protections for Christian viewpoints.

In the opinion, the High Court finally buried the Court-made “Lemon test,” citing Liberty Counsel’s 9-0 Shurtleff v. City of Boston decision.

The facts in both cases were essentially the same—government censorship of religious viewpoints using the Lemon test as justification.

Since founding Liberty Counsel in 1989, we fought to overturn the judicial activist Lemon test that perverted the Establishment Clause and caused incredible damage to America. Lemon is now dead!

The Justices referred to our Christian flag case in the Coach Kennedy opinion, saying: “In fact, just this Term the Court unanimously rejected a city’s attempt to censor religious speech based on Lemon and the endorsement test (See Shurtleff, 596 U.S.).”

The High Court also wrote, “Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse Republic—whether those expressions take place in a sanctuary or on a field, and whether they manifest through the spoken word or a bowed head.”

“Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance doubly protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment. And the only meaningful justification the government offered for its reprisal rested on a mistaken view that it had a duty to ferret out and suppress religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.”

Praise God for a High Court that has reversed the errors of previous “activist” judges and Justices! The Supreme Court has restored the First Amendment, preserving the right to religious freedom and speech!

These victories will have generational impact.

As a result of our work overturning Lemon, we are free publicly display the Ten Commandments, and celebrate Christmas and every other religious holiday. Government censorship of religious expression is done. A new day of freedom has arrived.

Please help us continue fighting for life and freedom by supporting our legal fund.

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

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