Supreme Court Rules Montana Religious Schools Can Receive Funding

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: A major victory for advocates of government funding for religious education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a law in Montana. That state law let students apply for state scholarships, which they could not use at religious schools. The court struck down that exclusion. Joining us now to discuss the 5-4 decision is NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. Nina, good morning. NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: Good morning. INSKEEP: Let’s first talk about this in the context of Montana. What was this case about? TOTENBERG: Well, the focal point of the decision was a Montana Supreme Court decision that struck down a tax subsidy for both religious and nonreligious private schools. The Montana Supreme Court said that the subsidy violated a state constitutional provision barring any state aid to religious schools, whether direct or indirect. And then what it did was it said, look; we can’t have private schools being – treat religious schools differently than nonreligious schools. So it struck down the state aid – tax aid provision entirely. The parents… INSKEEP: OK, I – go ahead, please. TOTENBERG: The parents of children at religious schools then went to the Supreme Court and said, look; this […]

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