Case Citator › Lynch v. Donnelly

Lynch v. Donnelly

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Abrogated
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Citation
465 U.S. 668
Decided
Confirmed treatments
1
Flagged citations read
157 of 157
Citing cases (total)
1,263
Treatment dates
2022
Abrogated
A reviewed court treats this case as abrogated by later authority. Lynch v. Donnelly has been abrogated in part: all 157 flagged citations have been read, and the confirmed treatment is listed below. The Supreme Court abandoned the Lemon and endorsement-test methodology associated with Lynch, replacing it with an approach grounded in historical practices and understandings.
More on how this was screened

That doctrinal change did not overrule Lynch's judgment upholding Pawtucket's contextual holiday display.

Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case.

1,263 later cases cite Lynch v. Donnelly; 157 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.

Relying on Lynch v. Donnelly?

This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.

Treatments

Abrogated

  • The Supreme Court abandoned the Lemon framework used in Lynch and the endorsement-test offshoot first formulated in Justice O'Connor's Lynch concurrence, while leaving Lynch's nativity-display judgment intact.

    Kennedy v. Bremerton School District · Supreme Court of the United States · filed

    But—given the apparent “shortcomings” associated with Lemon’s “ambitiou[s],” ab- stract, and ahistorical approach to the Establishment Clause—this Court long ago abandoned Lemon and its endorsement test offshoot.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

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