#Supreme Court says Montana tax credit program can’t exclude religious schools

The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision Tuesday ruled that a Montana tax credit program directing money to private schools cannot exclude religious schools.

The decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts and backed by the conservative wing of the court, sided with mothers of students who wanted to use the funds to send their children to religious schools.

The Montana Supreme Court had struck down the tax credit program because it violated a provision in the state Constitution that bans public funds from being spent on religious institutions.

Robert said the court was wrong, citing the US Constitution’s protection of religious freedom.

“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,” Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

The four liberal justices dissented.

The case involved a scholarship program created by the Montana legislature in 2015 for low-income parents that was funded by tax credits.

But the Montana Department of Reveue after the legislation was enacted barred use of the money to pay tuition at religious schools, referring to the state Constitution, which forbids such aid.

The provision, known as the “Blaine Amendment,” is included in the Constitutions of 36 states.

The three mothers who wanted to send their children to Christian schools sued, arguing their religious protection rights under the First Amendment were being violated.

The Montana Supreme Court eventually ruled that the state cannot indirectly fund a religious school education and ended the program.

Roberts said Montana’s high court’s decision to invalidate the scholarship program because it would make funds available for religious and secular schools “bars religious schools from public benefits solely because of the religious character of the schools.”

“The provision also bars parents who wish to send their children to a religious school from those same benefits, again solely because of the religious character of the school,” Roberts wrote.

In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the Montana Supreme Court’s ruling to end the scholarship program also took care of any concerns about discrimination.

“Petitioners may still send their children to a religious school. There simply are no scholarships to be had,” she said.