Supreme Court rules that Maine cannot deny tuition aid to religious schools
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended a recent streak of victories for religious interests, striking down a Maine tuition program that does not allow public funds to go to religious schools, the court’s most recent decision elevating concern about discrimination against religion over constitutional worries about the separation of church and state.
The vote was 6-3, with Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. writing for the majority and the court’s three liberals in dissent.
The case involves an unusual program in a small state that affects only a few thousand students. But it could have greater implications as the more conservative court systematically adjusts the line between the Constitution’s protection of religious exercise and its prohibition of government endorsement of religion.
Under Maine’s program, jurisdictions in rural areas too sparsely populated to support secondary schools of their own can arrange to have nearby schools teach their school-age children, or the state will pay tuition to parents to send their kids to private schools. But those schools must be nonsectarian, meaning they cannot promote a faith or belief system or teach “through the lens of this faith,” in the words of the state’s department of education.
Roberts said that approach could not survive the Constitution’s guarantee of free exercise of religion.
“There is nothing neutral about Maine’s program,” he wrote. “The State pays tuition for certain students at private schools — so long as the schools are not religious. That is discrimination against religion.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the dissenters, answered, “This Court continues to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the Framers fought to build.”
Those on opposite sides of the divide agreed only on the outcome’s significance.
“Today’s decision makes clear, once and for all, that the government may not bar parents from selecting religious schools within educational choice programs, whether because of their religious affiliation or the religious instruction they provide,” said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Michael Bindas, who argued the case at the Supreme Court for two families. “Parents have a constitutional right to choose such schools for their children, and the Court today held that a state cannot deny them that choice in programs that allow for other private options.”
Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser said in a statement that “the ultraconservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court continues to redefine the constitutional promise of religious freedom for all as religious privilege for a select few.”
“The court is forcing taxpayers to fund religious education,” Laser said.
The decision is the latest victory for religious interests. Just this term, the court has ruled that a
Death Row inmate must have access to a spiritual adviser at the time of execution, and that Boston is not free to reject a Christian group’s request to fly its flag at City Hall for fear it would appear to be an endorsement of religion, if other groups are given the privilege.
It will rule soon on a public high school football coach’s insistence he should be allowed to offer a prayer of gratitude at midfield after a game.