The Epoch Times BY
Montana’s decision to leave religious schools out of a state scholarship program funded by tax credits violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a divided Supreme Court ruled this morning.
The 5-4 decision in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue is a victory for the Trump administration, which had supported the students and their parents.
The petitioners in the case are three low-income mothers who needed the scholarship funds to keep their children in Stillwater Christian School, a nondenominational school in Kalispell, Montana. The program provided individuals and corporations a tax credit for giving as much as $150 annually to a nonprofit student scholarship organization helping poor students attend private schools.
The parents sued after the state’s Department of Revenue ruled that those scholarship funds could not be used for religious schools. A trial judge enjoined the rule and then the Montana Supreme Court struck down the program by a 5-2 vote on Dec. 12, 2018, declaring it ran afoul of the state’s constitution.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, which four conservative justices joined. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a dissenting opinion which Justice Elena Kagan joined. Justice Stephen Breyer filed a dissenting opinion which Kagan joined in part. Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed her own dissenting opinion.
“A State need not subsidize private education,” Roberts writes for the court.
“But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”
In this case “the parties do not dispute that the scholarship program is permissible under the Establishment Clause [of the federal Constitution]. Nor could they. We have repeatedly held that the Establishment Clause is not offended when religious observers and organizations benefit from neutral government programs.”
This is a developing story. This article will be updated later today as needed.
Posted in Faith&Religion & US & Education news
