A Wall of Separation · Episode 11 of 14 · 41 min
How Religious Schools Won Public Funding: Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, Carson
In two decades the Supreme Court flipped the rule on public money and religion, from whether the state may give any aid to whether it may exclude religion from a public benefit. Through Zelman, Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, Carson and Kennedy, the episode traces how Blaine Amendments were recast from separation safeguards into instruments of bigotry.
Who's who
- William Rehnquist+1 more episodeChief Justice who wrote the Zelman majority
- Sandra Day O'Connor+5 more episodesJustice whose Zelman concurrence stressed secular options
- John Roberts+5 more episodesChief Justice who wrote Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza and Carson
- Neil Gorsuch+5 more episodesJustice who wrote Kennedy v. Bremerton
- James G. Blaine+1 more episodeCongressman whose failed 1875 amendment named state Blaine Amendments
Where it happens
- Cleveland, Ohio+1 more episodeSite of the voucher program upheld in Zelman
- MaineState whose nonsectarian tuition rule was struck in Carson v. Makin
- Arizona+2 more episodesFirst state to make its education savings accounts universal, 2022
Timeline
- 1875Blaine's amendment passes the House 180-7 but fails in the Senate; states adopt their own
- June 27, 2002Zelman v. Simmons-Harris upholds Cleveland vouchers as true private choice, 5-4
- June 26, 2017Trinity Lutheran v. Comer bars religious-status exclusion from a grant program, 7-2
- June 30, 2020Espinoza v. Montana bars excluding religious schools from a scholarship program, 5-4
- June 21, 2022Carson v. Makin strikes Maine's nonsectarian requirement, 6-3
- June 27, 2022Kennedy v. Bremerton declares the Lemon test abandoned, 6-3
Still debated
Whether the status and use distinction survived Carson is debated, as is whether every state no-aid provision was primarily nativist. Arizona's education savings account figures come from sources that disagree sharply on interpretation.
← PreviousPromise Keepers: The 1990s Movement That Filled Stadiums With MenNext →Alaska's Fight Over Public Money for Religious Schools
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