蜜桃影视

Judges in Montana overturned the state鈥檚 tax-credit scholarship program as a violation of the state鈥檚 ban on funding religious schools, possibly setting up a rematch at the U.S. Supreme Court two years after justices considered a similar issue.

鈥淭he Legislature鈥檚 enactment of the Tax Credit Program is facially unconstitutional and violates Montana鈥檚 constitutional guarantees to all Montanans that their government will not use state funds to aid religious schools,鈥� Justice Laurie McKinnon聽.

The Montana judges were one of two state courts to decide a similar issue last week, though the high court in New Mexico came to the opposite conclusion in a case involving state-funded textbooks lent to private schools.

Lawyers with the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest firm that has brought many religious school choice cases, will appeal the Montana case to the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney Erica Smith said.

Lawyers think it鈥檚 likely the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the appeal 鈥渂ecause it鈥檚 something they鈥檝e been interested in for a long time,鈥� she said.

At issue is the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 2017 decision in a case known as Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. vs. Comer. Justices ruled that a religious institution couldn鈥檛 be barred from taking part in a publicly available, nonsectarian program (in this case, a church-run preschool applying for a grant to resurface its playground) solely because it is religious.

The case concerned what鈥檚 known as a Blaine Amendment, a provision in many state constitutions banning the public funding of religiously affiliated schools, and whether such clauses discriminate against religion in violation of the First Amendment.

Though the primary concern was over religious schools, the court ruled that the program is invalid even for private schools that aren鈥檛 religiously affiliated.

The Montana judges didn鈥檛 appropriately consider the Trinity Lutheran decision, Smith said.

Judges 鈥渆xplicitly declined to address the federal issues, even though they were right in front of them,鈥� she added.

But Patrick Elliott, staff attorney with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, told 蜜桃影视 that Smith鈥檚 reading of the decision was 鈥渢otally off-base.鈥� The foundation was not involved in the Montana case, but it has been involved in other church-state-separation issues in schools.

The Trinity Lutheran decision concerned something that 鈥渨asn鈥檛 a religious activity,鈥� he said, citing a footnote in the decision clarifying that the decision applied only to the playground resurfacing issue.

鈥淩eligious schools are certainly a religious activity that the state, under its own constitution, could say this is something we鈥檙e not going to tax people in order to support,鈥� Elliott said.

Advocates for separation of church and state praised the decision.

鈥淭he Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling reinforces the idea that public money belongs in public schools and should not be funneled away to fund private, religious education. The framers of Montana鈥檚 constitution recognized and incorporated a strong commitment to maintaining public education and ensuring that public education remains free from religious entanglement,鈥� Alex Rate, legal director of ACLU of Montana, said in a statement.

Attorneys for families who have used the Montana scholarships will immediately appeal to the Montana Supreme Court for a stay of the ruling so that students can again apply for scholarships for the 2019-20 school year. If the state supreme court doesn鈥檛 agree to delay their ruling, lawyers will bring the same request to the U.S. Supreme Court.

鈥淲hether we get the stay or not, we will be petitioning for cert at the U.S. Supreme Court,鈥� Smith said.

An appeal of the decision wouldn鈥檛 be heard at the U.S. Supreme Court this term, Smith said. The high court鈥檚 next term starts in October 2019. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the newest member of the court, has been publicly supportive of vouchers and has written briefs in cases arguing for public support of school prayer and the use of public facilities for religious activities.

Another case concerning state support of religious institutions is also pending before the high court. Justices on Jan. 4 will decide whether to hear a case concerning whether聽.

Other cases concerning publicly supported private school choice, including ones in Maine and Washington, are still in early legal stages.

New Mexico judges rule for religious schools

In New Mexico, judges ruled that private schools, including religious ones, can participate in a state textbook-lending program.

Providing textbooks to all schools provides benefits to students and therefore the state, and any benefit to private schools is incidental, the justices wrote.

鈥泪苍 Trinity Lutheran, the Supreme Court changed the landscape of First Amendment law. Under Trinity Lutheran, if a state permits private schools to participate in a generally available public benefit program, the state must provide the benefit to religious schools on equal terms,鈥� Justice Barbara J. Vigil聽.

The ruling is 鈥渁 great extension鈥� of the Trinity Lutheran ruling, said Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which argued for parents seeking to uphold the program at religious schools.

New Mexico judges had decided differently three years ago, ruling that the program violated the state鈥檚 Blaine Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court聽sent the case back to New Mexico last year to reconsider in light of Trinity Lutheran.

The case could be appealed again to the Supreme Court, but Governor-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said she鈥檒l abide by the ruling,聽.

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