Aronow v. United States

Aronow v. United States was the first case to challenge the inclusion of "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency.^[1]

In that case, Stefan Ray Aronow challenged the constitutionality of the motto and its placement on U.S. currency and coinage.^[2] In 1970 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the plaintiff did not have standing as a taxpayer, but set aside the question of standing to rule on the merits of the case.^[3] The Court ruled: "It is quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage and currency 'In God We Trust' has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion. Its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise."^[1] The Supreme Court of the United States had declined to hear the appeal.^[4]

A similar decision was reached by the Fifth Circuit in Madalyn Murray O'Hair vs W. Michael Blumenthal in 1979, which affirmed that the "primary purpose of the slogan was secular."^[4] In addition, Aronow v. United States was referenced in the 2002 case of Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow.

References

^ ^a ^b Aronow v. United States, 432 F.2d 242, 243 (9th Cir. October 6, 1970).
^ Finding Dulcinea Staff (2011). "On This Day: 'In God We Trust' Becomes Motto of the United States." (July 30). Retrieved 11-6-2011.
^ Davis, Derek (2010). Oxford Handbook of Church and State in the United States. New York: Oxford Handbooks Online, p. 305.
^ ^a ^b Duncan, Ann W. (2008). Church-state Issues in America Today. Westport CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 88.

United States First Amendment case law

Establishment Clause

Public funding	Everson v. Board of Education (1947) • McCollum v. Board of Education (1948) • Walz v. Tax Commission (1970) • Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) • Marsh v. Chambers (1983) • Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet (1994) • Agostini v. Felton (1997) • Mitchell v. Helms (2000) • Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) • Locke v. Davey (2004)

Public displays	Lynch v. Donnelly (1984) • County of Allegheny v. ACLU (1989) • McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky (2005) • Van Orden v. Perry (2005)

School prayer	Zorach v. Clauson (1952) • Engel v. Vitale (1962) • School District of Abington Township v. Schempp (1963) • Stone v. Graham (1980) • Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) • Lee v. Weisman (1992) • Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe (2000) • Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2004)

Creationism	Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) • Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) • Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (M.D. Pa. 2005)

Free Exercise Clause

Reynolds v. United States (1879) • Davis v. Beason (1890) • Braunfeld v. Brown (1961) • Torcaso v. Watkins (1961) • Sherbert v. Verner (1963) • Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) • Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division (1981) • Bob Jones University v. United States (1983) • Goldman v. Weinberger (1986) • Employment Division v. Smith (1990) • Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993) • City of Boerne v. Flores (1997) • Watchtower Society v. Village of Stratton (2002) • Cutter v. Wilkinson (2005) • Gonzales v. UDV (2006)

Freedom of speech

Sedition and imminent danger	Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) • Schenck v. United States (1919) • Abrams v. United States (1919) • Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten (S.D.N.Y. 1917) • Gitlow v. New York (1925) • Whitney v. California (1927) • Dennis v. United States (1951) • Yates v. United States (1957) • Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)

Fighting words and the heckler's veto	Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940) • Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) • Terminiello v. Chicago (1949) • Feiner v. New York (1951) • National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie (1977) • R. A. V. v. City of St. Paul (1992) • Snyder v. Phelps (2011)

Freedom of assembly and public forums	Hague v. CIO (1939) • Schneider v. New Jersey (1939) • Martin v. Struthers (1943) • Niemotko v. Maryland (1951) • Cox v. Louisiana (1965) • Brown v. Louisiana (1966) • Coates v. Cincinnati (1971) • Adderley v. Florida (1966) • Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins (1980) • Hill v. Colorado (2000)

Symbolic speech	United States v. O'Brien (1968) • Cohen v. California (1971) • Texas v. Johnson (1989) • United States v. Eichman (1990)

Compelled speech	Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940) • West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943) • Wooley v. Maynard (1977) • Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth (2000) • Davenport v. Washington Education Association (2007)

School speech	Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) • Board of Education v. Pico (1982) • Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986) • Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) • Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995) • Morse v. Frederick (2007)

Obscenity	Rosen v. United States (1896) • United States v. One Book Called Ulysses (S.D.N.Y. 1933) • Roth v. United States (1957) • One, Inc. v. Olesen (1958) • Marcus v. Search Warrant (1961) • MANual Enterprises v. Day (1962) • Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) • Quantity of Books v. Kansas (1964) • Freedman v. Maryland (1965) • Memoirs v. Massachusetts (1966) • Redrup v. New York (1967) • Ginsberg v. New York (1968) • Stanley v. Georgia (1969) • United States v. Thirty-seven Photographs (1971) • Kois v. Wisconsin (1972) • Miller v. California (1973) • Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton (1973) • United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film (1973) • Jenkins v. Georgia (1974) • New York v. Ferber (1982) • American Booksellers v. Hudnut (7th Cir., 1985) • Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986) • Osborne v. Ohio (1990) • United States v. X-Citement Video (1994) • Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997) • United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group (2000) • Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) • Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union (2002) • Nitke v. Gonzales (S.D.N.Y., 2005) • United States v. Williams (2008) • FCC v. Fox Television Stations (2009 case) (2009) • American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression v. Strickland (6th Cir., 2009) • United States v. Kilbride (9th Cir., 2009) • United States v. Stevens (2010)

Public employees	Garner v. Board of Public Works (1951) • Pickering v. Board of Education (1968) • Connick v. Myers (1983) • Rankin v. McPherson (1987) • Waters v. Churchill (1994) • Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006) • Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri (2011)

Hatch Act and similar laws	Ex parte Curtis (1882) • United Public Workers v. Mitchell (1947) • United States Civil Service Commission v. National Association of Letter Carriers (1973) • Broadrick v. Oklahoma (1973)

Commercial speech	Valentine v. Chrestensen (1942) • Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations (1973) • Bigelow v. Commonwealth of Virginia (1974) • Virginia State Pharmacy Board v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (1976) • Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (1977) • Linmark Associates, Inc. v. Willingboro (1977) • Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission (1980) • Consol. Edison Co. v. Public Serv. Comm'n (1980) • Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Commission of California (1986) • San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee (1987) • 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island (1996)

Campaign finance and political speech	Buckley v. Valeo (1976) • First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978) • Citizens Against Rent Control v. City of Berkeley (1981) • California Medical Association v. FEC (1981) • Brown v. Socialist Workers '74 Campaign Committee (1982) • FEC v. National Conservative Political Action Committee (1985) • FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life (1986) • Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1990) • McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission (1995) • Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. FEC (1996) • Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC (2000) • FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee (2001) • McConnell v. FEC (2003) • FEC v. Beaumont (2003) • Randall v. Sorrell (2006) • FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. (2007) • Davis v. FEC (2008) • Citizens United v. FEC (2010) • Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett. (2011)

Freedom of the press

Prior restraints and censorship	Near v. Minnesota (1931) • Lovell v. City of Griffin (1938) • New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) • Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo (1974) • Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart (1976)

Taxation and privileges	Grosjean v. American Press Co. (1936) • Branzburg v. Hayes (1972) • Minneapolis Star Tribune Company v. Commissioner (1983)

Defamation	New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) • Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts (1967) • Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. (1974) • Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. (1984) • Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. (1985) • McDonald v. Smith (1985) • Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988) • Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. (1990)

Broadcast media	Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC (1969) • FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) • Turner Broadcasting v. FCC (1994) • Bartnicki v. Vopper (2001)

Freedom of association

NAACP v. Alabama (1958) • Roberts v. United States Jaycees (1984) • Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston (1995) • Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000)