Stone v. Graham

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Stone v. Graham

Supreme Court of the United States

Decided November 17, 1980

Full case name:	Stone, et al. v. Graham, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky

Citations:	449 U.S. 39; 101 S. Ct. 192; 66 L. Ed. 2d 199; 1980 U.S. LEXIS 2; 49 U.S.L.W. 3369

Holding

A Kentucky statute requiring the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments, purchased with private contributions, on the wall of each public classroom in the State is unconstitutional because it lacks a secular legislative purpose.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices: William J. Brennan, Jr., Potter Stewart, Byron White, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens

Case opinions

Per curiam.

Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a Kentucky statute requiring the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments, purchased with private contributions, on the wall of each public classroom in the State is unconstitutional, violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, because it lacks a secular legislative purpose.