Supreme Court Disallows Discrimination Against Religious School in Playground Program

From our Friends at CAPE:

The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled 7-2 that the state of Missouri violated the U.S. Constitution when it excluded a preschool sponsored by Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia from a state grant program providing playground resurfacing materials.

“[T]he 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,” said the court.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion of the court and was joined by Justices Kennedy, Alito, Kagan, Thomas, and Gorsuch, except that three justices (Roberts, Thomas, and Gorsuch) refused to endorse a particular footnote limiting the scope of the ruling.  Justice Breyer filed an opinion concurring in the judgment.  Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Ginsburg joined.

[button size=”medium” type=”normal” style=”square” color=”primary” icon=”” new_window=”yes” link=”https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-577_khlp.pdf”]Read the Ruling Here[/button]