The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to decide next week whether to take up a private school choice case.
The decision is scheduled for June 24th - next Thursday.
SCOTUS decided in Montana v Espinoza (2020) that preventing school choice families from taking their children's education dollars to private schools just because they were religious violated the Free Exercise Clause of the 1st Amendment
Chief Justice John Roberts (Montana v Espinoza, 2020):
"A state need not subsidize private education. But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious"
Maine's private school choice program doesn't allow families to take their children's education dollars to private religious schools
This prohibition discriminates against religious families and flies in the face of the Montana v Espinoza (2020) SCOTUS decision.
Despite the Montana v Espinoza (2020) decision, the 1st U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against the families
The court argued Maine's program does not discriminate based on the school's religious "status" - just based on religious "use"
This is a distinction without a difference.
From the Institute for Justice:
"Like discrimination based on religious status, barring parents from picking religious schools if those schools do religious things clearly violates the Free Exercise Clause."
Maine's program clearly discriminates against religious families by prohibiting them from taking their children's education dollars to private schools just because they provide religious education
SCOTUS should take up this case next week and side with families.
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