Activist Alton Lemon, of "Lemon Test" Fame, Dies At 84

The New York Times reports today on the death earlier this month of Alton T. Lemon, first-named plaintiff in the famous 1971 Supreme Court case of Lemon v. Kurtzman. Lemon was a civil rights activist who objected to state aid to parochial schools. He was the first African-American president of the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. The lawsuit which developed the test generally used to decide Establishment clause cases was brought by six religious, civil rights and educational groups and two other taxpayers as well. Mr. Lemon, who was 84 years old when he died on May 4, was a graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Pennsylvania. He served in the army and later worked in a series of government jobs.  He was also active in the NAACP and the ACLU.