Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints et al. v. Amos et al.

Decided June 24, 1987. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-179 · 483 U.S. 327 (1987) · Cited 549 times

Holding

Applying 702's exemption to religious organizations' secular activities does not violate the Establishment Clause.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 403 U.S. 602 (1971)
• Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York · 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
• Wallace v. Jaffree · 472 U.S. 38 (1985)
• Lynch v. Donnelly · 465 U.S. 668 (1984)
• Larson v. Valente · 456 U.S. 228 (1982)
• Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla. · 480 U.S. 136 (1987)
• Mueller v. Allen · 463 U.S. 388 (1983)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for United States and Canada v. Milivojevich · 426 U.S. 696 (1976)
• United States v. Lee · 455 U.S. 252 (1982)
• Zorach v. Clauson · 343 U.S. 306 (1952)
• Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist · 413 U.S. 756 (1973)
• Board of Ed. of Central School Dist. No. 1 v. Allen · 392 U.S. 236 (1968)
• Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America · 344 U.S. 94 (1952)
• School District of Grand Rapids v. Ball · 473 U.S. 373 (1985)
• Estate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc. · 472 U.S. 703 (1985)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer · 582 U.S. 449 (2017)
• Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet · 512 U.S. 687 (1994)
• Cutter v. Wilkinson · 544 U.S. 709 (2005)
• Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock · 489 U.S. 1 (1989)
• County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union · 492 U.S. 573 (1989)
• Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School District · 508 U.S. 384 (1993)
• Lee v. Weisman · 505 U.S. 577 (1992)
• McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Ky. · 545 U.S. 844 (2005)
• American Legion v. American Humanist Assn. · 588 U.S. 29 (2019)
• Board of Ed. of Westside Community Schools (Dist. 66) v. Mergens · 496 U.S. 226 (1990)
• Mitchell v. Helms · 530 U.S. 793 (2000)
• Hernandez v. Commissioner · 490 U.S. 680 (1989)
• Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 565 U.S. 171 (2012)
• Van Orden v. Perry · 545 U.S. 677 (2005)
• Salazar v. Buono · 559 U.S. 700 (2010)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Byron Raymond White’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1987). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).