The Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider whether states that give money to parents for their children’s high school tuition can exclude schools offering a religious education.
In recent years, the court has been especially receptive to claims of religious discrimination. It ruled last year that when states make tuition money generally available, they cannot exclude schools that are run by religious institutions.
In that case, involving a school program in Montana, some justices questioned whether there was a meaningful difference between discrimination based on a school’s religious status and that based on a school’s use of government money to teach religion. “We acknowledge the point but need not examine it here,” the ruling said.
Now the court has agreed to examine that question in a case from Maine that invites the justices to take the next step and say schools cannot be excluded even if they offer religious instruction.
