The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is
ordering lower state courts to reconsider their rulings in light of the high
court’s recent decision that ruled Missouri’s Blane Amendment violated the U.S.
Constitution.
The Blane Amendment, versions of which
are included in other state constitutions, specifically prohibits public funds
from flowing to religious entities; but the SCOTUS recently ruled 7-2 against Missouri
using the amendment to block a religious school from participating in a state
grant program.
Trinity Lutheran Church sued the State
of Missouri after officials denied its application for a grant program to
rubberize school playgrounds. As a
result of the SCOTUS decision, many school choice proponents believe this
decision will have far broader implications for voucher programs nationwide, EAGnews reports.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for
the majority that “the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for
which it is otherwise qualifies, solely because it is a church, is odious to
our Constitution ... and cannot stand.”
The SCOTUS ordered courts in Colorado
and New Mexico to review cases currently pending for appeal in light of this
ruling. EdWeek reports:
The
New Mexico case involves a state textbook-lending program for private schools
and a New Mexico Supreme Court decision that held a provision of the state
constitution to bar the inclusion of religious schools in the program.
The
Colorado case, involving three separate appeals, stems from an unorthodox
effort by the Douglas County School District to create a tuition-scholarship program
for students to attend private schools, including religious schools. The Colorado Supreme Court blocked the program
based on a Blaine-like, “no aid” provision in the state constitution. The school district, the Colorado State Board
of Education, and a group of intervening private school parents in the Colorado
case all appealed to the SCOTUS. Like
the New Mexico appeal, the Colorado parties urge the court to rule that the
state Blaine amendments violate federal constitutional rights of religious
schools or parents.
The SCOTUS sent both cases back to the
supreme courts in New Mexico and Colorado “for further consideration in light
of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer” … according to the court’s
published order list. Legal experts both
for and against school choice are now arguing about what (exactly) the ruling
means for vouchers and other programs previously hampered by the Blane
Amendments.
“Today’s order sends a strong signal
that just as the U.S. Supreme Court would not tolerate the use of a Blaine
Amendment to exclude a religious preschool from a playground resurfacing
program, it will not tolerate the use of Blaine Amendments to exclude religious
options from school choice programs,” says Michael Bindas – Senior Attorney for
the Institute for Justice. Bindas is
representing private school families in the Colorado case, EdWeek reports.
“Despite a suggestion to the contrary
in the dissenting opinion, Trinity Lutheran may very well open the door to
requiring state and local governments to include religious entities in voucher
programs,” writes Frank S. Ravitch, a law and religion professor at Michigan State
University, in his SCOTUSblog.
EdWeek points out those
opponents of private school choice seem to be acknowledging that this ruling could
turn out to be a big win for school choice.
“This ruling threatens to open the
door to more taxpayer support for religion, which is at odds with our history,
traditions and common sense,” groaned Rev. Barry Lynn, Executive Director of
Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor,
Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
