Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1800_7lho.pdf
Page Number: 48

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

13 

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

constitute an establishment of religion.  See Brougher 1–2; 
Symbol Cases 91.  The simple truth is that no historically
sensitive  understanding  of  the  Establishment  Clause  can
be reconciled with a rule requiring governments to “roa[m]
the land, tearing down monuments with religious symbol-
ism and scrubbing away any reference to the divine.”  Amer-
ican Legion, 588 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 20).  Our Consti-
tution  was  not  designed  to  erase  religion  from  American 
life; it was designed to ensure “respect and tolerance.”  Id., 
at ___ (slip op., at 31). 

* 
To  justify  a  policy  that  discriminated  against  religion,
Boston sought to drag Lemon once more from its grave.  It 
was a strategy as risky as it was unsound.  Lemon ignored
the original meaning of the Establishment Clause, it disre-
garded mountains of precedent, and it substituted a serious
constitutional  inquiry  with  a  guessing  game.    This  Court 
long ago interred Lemon, and it is past time for local offi-
cials and lower courts to let it lie.