Washington D.C., Jul 1, 2019 / 15:18 pm
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case addressing the question of whether states can deny tax credit programs to parents and children who choose religious private schools.
"States cannot base laws on hostility to religion. Likewise, no provision of Montana's constitution can enshrine hostility to religion into state law. We commend the Supreme Court for taking this case," Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel John Bursch said in a June 28 statement.
The case, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, was decided 5-2 in the Montana Supreme Court late last year.
The ruling found that the state's tax credit program, which provided for a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for a person's donation to nonprofit student scholarship organizations, permitted the Montana legislature to "indirectly pay tuition at private, religiously-affiliated schools" in violation of state law.