A WSJ article reports that school choice will be at issue in a case to be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow. Highlights:
School choice plans are proliferating around the nation, and today the Supreme Court will hear a case that could stop them cold on dubious legal grounds.
[T]he question is whether a scholarship tax credit program that has operated in Arizona since 1997 violates the First Amendment’s clause that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Arizonans can receive a tax credit of $500 ($1,000 for couples filing jointly) for donations they make to so-called school tuition organizations, which operate as charities and provide scholarships to private schools.
As ever, the American Civil Liberties Union and other rigid secularists argue that this is unconstitutional support for religion because most parents seek out religiously affiliated programs.
As a legal matter, the Arizona case isn’t a close call. The fact that it is being heard at all reflects the liberal dogmatism of the Ninth Circuit even in the face of clear Supreme Court precedent, and we hope the Justices knock this one clear out of the ballpark and all the way back to San Francisco.
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