Abington School Dist. v. Schempp

Almost a century and a half ago, John Marshall, in M’Culloch v. Maryland, enjoined: “. . . we must never forget, that it is a constitution we are expounding.” 4 Wheat. 316, 407. The Court’s historic duty to expound the' meaning of the Constitution has encountered few issues more intricate or more demanding than that of the relationship between religion and the public’ schools. Since undoubtedly we are “a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being,” Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U. S. 306, 313, deep feelings are aroused when aspects of that relationship are claimed to violate the…