Mueller v. Allen

Mueller v. Allen: Facts of the Case

Mueller v. Allen: The Court’s Ruling

Mueller v. Allen (1983) involved a challenge to the State of Minnesota’s allowance of tuition deductions for specified educational expenses, filed under the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government making laws “respecting an establishment of religion.” The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Mueller to let the state law stand provided an important precedent for other cases involving state support for religious schools.

Ralph D. Mawdsley

See also Agostini v. Felton; Board of Education v. Allen; Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist; Lemon v. Kurtzman; Mitchell v. Helms; State Aid and the Establishment Clause; Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District

Legal Citations

• Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S. 203 (1997).
• Board of Education of Central School District No. 1 v. Allen, 392 U.S. 236 (1968).
• Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist, 413 U.S. 756 (1973).
• Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971).
• Mitchell v. Helms, 530 U.S. 793 (2000) reh’g denied, 530 U.S. 1296 (2000), on remand sub nom. Helms v. Picard, 229 F.3d 467 (5th Cir. 2000).
• Mueller v. Allen, 463 U.S. 388 (1983).
• Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District, 509 U.S. 1 (1993).