Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1800_7lho.pdf
Page Number: 44

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

9 

 GORSUCH, J., concurring
GORSUCH, J., concurring in judgment 

And again we stressed that the right place to look for guid-
ance  lies  in  “ ‘ “historical  practices  and  understandings.” ’ ” 
Id.,  at  ___  (slip  op.,  at  25)  (quoting  Town  of  Greece,  572 
U. S., at 576). 

* 
With all these messages directing and redirecting the in-
quiry  to  original  meaning  as  illuminated  by  history,  why 
did  Boston still  follow  Lemon  in  this  case?  Why  do  other 
localities and lower courts sometimes do the same thing, al-
lowing Lemon even now to “si[t] up in its grave and shuffl[e] 
abroad”?  Lamb’s  Chapel  v.  Center  Moriches  Union  Free 
School Dist., 508 U. S. 384, 398 (1993) (Scalia, J., concur-
ring in judgment).  There may be other contributing factors, 
but let me address two. 

First, it’s hard not to wonder whether some simply prefer
the policy outcomes Lemon can be manipulated to produce. 
Just  dial  down  your  hypothetical  observer’s  concern  with
facts and history, dial up his inclination to offense, and the 
test is guaranteed to spit out results more hostile to religion 
than  anything  a  careful  inquiry  into  the  original  under-
standing of the Constitution could sustain.  Lemon may pro-
mote  an  unserious,  results-oriented  approach  to  constitu-
tional  interpretation.    But  for  some,  that  may  be  more  a 
virtue than a vice. 

There is more than a little in the record before us to sug-
gest this line of thinking.  As city officials tell it, Boston did 
not  want  to  “ ‘display  flags  deemed  to  be  inappropriate  or
offensive in nature or those supporting discrimination, prej-
udice, or religious movements.’ ”  App. to Pet. for Cert. 160a.
Instead, the city wanted to celebrate only “a particular kind
of diversity.”  Tr. of Oral Arg. 85–86.  And if your policy goal 
is to lump in religious speech with fighting words and ob-
scenity, if it is to celebrate only a “particular” type of diver-
sity consistent with popular ideology, the First Amendment
is not exactly your friend.  Dragging Lemon from its grave