<P> Everson v. Board of Education , 330 U.S. 1 ( 1947 ) was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which applied the Establishment Clause in the country 's Bill of Rights to State law . Prior to this decision the First Amendment words , `` Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion '' imposed limits only on the federal government , while many states continued to grant certain religious denominations legislative or effective privileges . This was the first Supreme Court case incorporating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as binding upon the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment . The decision in Everson marked a turning point in the interpretation and application of disestablishment law in the modern era . </P>
which case was the supreme court 's first ruling on the establishment clause answers
Everson v. Board of Education , 330 U.S. 1 ( 1947 )