Placeholder while loading article actions
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended a recent streak of victories over religious interests, overturning a Maine enrollment program that did not allow public funds to go to schools that promote religious education.
Voting was 6-3, with Court President John G. Roberts Jr. writing for the majority and the three liberals of the dissenting court.
The case involves an unusual program in a small state that only affects a few thousand students. But it could have greater implications as the more conservative court relaxes the constitutional line between church and state.
Under the program, jurisdictions in rural areas that are too sparsely populated to support their own high schools may arrange for nearby schools to teach their children of school age, or the state will pay tuition to parents to send their children to private schools. But these schools must be non-sectarian, meaning they cannot promote a system of faith or beliefs or teach “through the lens of that faith,” in the words of the state education department.
The Supreme Court says it rules that subsidizing private education should include religious schools
Roberts said the program could not survive the Constitution’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion.
“There’s nothing neutral about the Maine program,” he wrote. “The state pays tuition to certain students in private schools, as long as the schools are not religious. This is discrimination against religion.”
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, one of the dissidents, replied: “This Court continues to dismantle the separation wall between the church and declare that the Framers fought to build.”
The case, Carson v. Makinis similar to one in Montana decided by the court in 2020. In this case, the court ruled that states must allow religious schools to participate in programs that offer scholarships to students attending private schools.
Roberts, writing for the majority in the case, said: “A state should not subsidize private education. But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools just because they are religious.”