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1 1 (January 17, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/goveati0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional _____ * Research Service a Espinoza v. Montana and the Refusal to Provide Public Funds to Religious Schools January 17, 2020 Can a state refuse to extend public aid to religious schools? The Supreme Court may consider this question in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, a case in which oral arguments are scheduled for January 22, 2020. The Montana Supreme Court previously ruled that a state tax credit program that indirectly supported religious schools violated a provision of the Montana constitution prohibiting the state from giving public funds to any religious school. Parents of students that attend religious schools appealed this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the state decision violates the U.S. Constitution by impermissibly discriminating against religion. The case presents significant questions relating to whether these so called no-aid clauses in state constitutions may violate the federal Free Exercise Clause. More generally, the case raises questions about how federal and state governments may structure public aid programs. This Legal Sidebar discusses the legal principles at issue in this appeal- and explains why the Court might not resolve these broader questions, given the somewhat complicated background of this case. Legal Background The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the U.S. Constitution provide that the government shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from impermissibly supporting churches. The Supreme Court has noted that a law may be one 'respecting' the establishment of religion even if it does not itself establish an official religion, if the law represents a step that could lead to such establishment. Accordingly, governments may violate the Establishment Clause if they, for example, give direct payments to religious schools. Even if the government intends the direct aid to be used for secular purposes, the aid may be unconstitutional if the school can nonetheless use it for religious purposes. On the other hand, the Court has also recognized that governments may sometimes indirectly aid religious schools without violating the Establishment Clause, if the public aid is given to private third parties who then choose to use that support to attend a religious school. But while the federal Establishment Clause may allow certain types of aid to be provided to religious schools, many states have taken a stricter position. Most state constitutions contain provisions that wholly prohibit states from giving public funds to religious schools. These states have cited anti-establishment Congressional Research Service https://crsreports. congress.gov LSB10397 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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