The Supreme Court ruled that the state of Maine must allow parents who receive taxpayer-funded tuition assistance payments to use them at religious schools, saying a ban on the practice had violated the First Amendment.
"The State pays tuition for certain students at private schools -- so long as the schools are not religious. That is discrimination against religion," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion joined by the court's five other conservatives.
State regulations have prohibited use of the funds at a school that promotes a specific faith or belief system and teaches academic material through a "lens of faith." Chief Justice Roberts noted that Maine is not required outright to fund religious schools, but that once it allows general subsidy of private education it could not discriminate. "The State retains a number of options: it could expand the reach of its public school system, increase the availability of transportation, provide some combination of tutoring, remote learning, and partial attendance, or even operate boarding schools of its own," he wrote.
"That need is reinforced by the fact that we are today a Nation of more than 330 million people who ascribe to over 100 different religions. In that context, state neutrality with respect to religion is particularly important," Breyer wrote.MORE: Justice Sotomayor gives pep talk to progressives while praising Clarence Thomas
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