[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official
website] ruled [opinion, PDF] 7-2 Monday in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer [SCOTUSblog
materials] that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources policy of
excluding religious organizations from receiving grants violates the First
Amendment. The Department offers grants to public and private schools and
daycares to resurface playgrounds with material made from recycled tires.
Trinity Lutheran Church applied for a grant for its preschool and daycare
center but was denied because it was a religious entity. In an opinion by Chief
Justice John Roberts, the court held that the policy violates the Establishment
Clause:
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources
has not subjected anyone to chains or torture on account of religion. And the
result of the State's policy is nothing so dramatic as the denial of political
office. The consequence is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees. But
the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is
otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our
Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.
Roberts
appeared to attempt to limit the holding to the facts of this case in footnote
3, but Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch did not join as to that note.
Thomas filed a concurring opinion, joined by Gorsuch, and Gorsuch filed a
concurring opinion, joined by Thomas. Justice Stephen Breyer also filed a concurring
opinion. Justice Sonia Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined.
The court heard arguments in this case in April after granting certiorari [JURIST report] last
year. The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit had ruled in favor [opinion, PDF] of the Department's policy.
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