More than half of the Notre Dame incoming class in 2019 did not attend public high school. Catholic high schools, specifically, accounted for 37% of that class. This month, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear argument as to whether it is unconstitutional for a state to invalidate an entire scholarship program on the basis of its possible allocation of public funds to religious educational institutions. It is difficult to overstate the potential impact of this case: the Court might definitively state that religious organizations, including religious schools, cannot be discriminated against in public funding, undermining the various state laws to the contrary. The facts of the case at hand, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue , are somewhat nuanced but not too complex. The state of Montana implemented a scholarship program administrated by the Montana Department of Revenue. The program would provide tax credits to individuals and organizations who contributed, and use those funds to provide assistance to students wishing to attend private schools. The Department of Revenue decided to exclude religious schools from the options available to students using the scholarships. Multiple families sued, and the Montana Supreme Court considered whether there was […]
