Morris County’s Supreme Case

Look who’s headed to the US Supreme Court: The freeholders of Morris County, NJ, who are appealing to overturn a ruling from the Garden State’s top court that blocks them from awarding historic-preservation grants to churches. It should be a slam-dunk win.

The petition was filed Tuesday on behalf of the Board of Freeholders by the DC-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has a long winning streak before the Supremes.

It all started in April, when the Wisconsinbased Freedom From Religion Foundation sued the freeholders over the church grants, which are awarded on the same basis of merit and need to all comers.

Jersey’s own Supremes bought the militant atheists’ argument, saying that $4.6 million in taxpayer funds given to preserve historic churches in 2012-15 violated the Reli- gious Aid Clause of the state Constitution.

“In Morris County, we want to preserve all our historical sites, including our magnificent houses of worship, some of which date back to the 1700s and were designed by the leading architects of the time,” explained Freeholders chief Douglas Cabana. “Preserving the character and beauty of our county is a critical element of the county’s cultural and economic success.”

As Becket noted, the US Supreme Court last year ruled in favor of protecting a church’s right to participate on an equal basis in any public program. Under the freeexercise clause of the First Amendment, government can’t discriminate against (or for) a church simply because it’s a religious institution.

The Jersey court should be ashamed it didn’t see what an open-and-shut case this is.