Although the U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily suspended its remaining docket due to our current public health crisis, two cases with far-reaching implications to religious education are still going to be decided this term. Taken together in fact, these two cases reveal a fundamental incoherence to the legal strategy utilized by those pushing for a restructuring of the relationship between government and religious education. The first case, Montana Department of Revenue v. Espinoza , held oral arguments this past January. It is not overselling it to say the result could profoundly alter how our government funds public education. The relevant facts surrounding the Espinoza case, however, are relatively simple. The Supreme Court has held states have the right to strengthen the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause liberty with state-specific statutes or constitutional provisions, if they so choose. Moreover, even the petitioners in the Espinoza case conceded during oral argument that as a function of this Establishment Clause liberty, states can choose not to fund secular and religious private schools entirely. Now, you and everyone else can read right here and see that upholding this recognized state right is exactly what the Montana Supreme Court did in the Espinoza case. To […]
