In this Nov. 2, 2020, file photo the Supreme Court is seen at sundown in Washington. President Joe Biden has two seats to fill on the influential appeals court in the nation’s capital that regularly feeds judges to the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. Supreme Court should correct a federal appeals court ruling that upheld a Maine tuition-assistance program that excludes schools providing faith-based instruction, the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and other organizations have told the justices. The ERLC joined 12 other organizations in a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Christian Legal Society (CLS) that asked the high court to review an opinion by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston that they contend violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of free exercise of religion. The brief, filed March 11, said the lower-court ruling conflicts with both the Constitution and the justices’ previous decisions by barring from the program schools that use funds to provide religious instruction and the families that choose those schools. The justices are scheduled to consider whether to review the decision in their April 1 conference, a lawyer for the families who brought suit said. […]
