The lemon test was designed to determine whether the government had violated the establishment clause. determine whether a fair public trial occurred. determine whether the first amendment could regulate obscenity. determine whether the federal government prevented the free exercise of religion.

The lemon test was created so that it could determine weather or not the government had prevented the free exercise of religion. In 1971, the Supreme Court sat through the case of Lemon v Kurtzman. One of the biggest results of this case was the Lemon Test which determines weather or not a law violates the first amendment rights.