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Loving thy neighbor is generally excepted as a Christian tenant. Teaching their kid though? Not so much. Carson v. Makin, along with Bremerton, are two of the most recent nails in the Establishment Clause’ coffin. As fate would have it, it looks like the clause’s death was in vain. Despite the Court ruling that state governments would have to fund religious schools, the cost of taking the money is too great for the schools effected.
Parents of children enrolled in Maine religious schools fought for years — all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — for the state to treat tuition reimbursements the same as other private schools.
But only one of the religious high schools that stood to benefit has signed up to participate this fall, after Maine’s attorney general warned that the schools would have to abide by state antidiscrimination laws, including those that protect LGBTQ students and faculty. That development has frustrated the families who sued.
Yup. Money is being turned away because the right to discriminate against children is just too valuable to trade in for mere cash. And the religious right would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those pesky human rights. No seriously, respecting human rights are being framed as the problem here.
In Maine, Attorney General Aaron Frey criticized the Supreme Court ruling and said all schools that accept public funds, including religious schools, must abide by the Maine Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or disability. That would mean accepting gay and transgender teachers and pupils, he said.
But David Carson, of Glenburn, said it’s frustrating to see the legal victory muddied by the attorney general.
“It’s disappointing when you do all this and nothing happens,” he said. “It’s kind of a circus to me. The Supreme Court says one thing, but the state attorney general just does what he wants to do.”
Gotta hate those pesky Attorney Generals, what with their enforcing the law and all. As it stands, Maine schools have the option of not accepting the funding or… you know, taking the free money and not discriminating against their teachers and students. Most Maine religious schools have chosen the former. This might not be the case for long though.
Michael Bindas is a senior attorney at the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, a nonprofit libertarian law firm that represented the families who sued. He said he’s not surprised the schools are slow to decide whether to participate, because of the questions raised by the attorney general.
“Those open questions, however, will be resolved in time, and we certainly expect religious schools to participate,” he said.
Considering the make up of the Court, the “right” to openly discriminate against gays may actually be an open question, one potentially decided in bigo… I mean…what is being marketed as Christian’s favor. Luckily, its just the right to educate children that’s at stake here. It’s not like people are also pressing for religious exemptions to kill or something.
Oh.
We will be sure to keep you updated as things develop. If and when this goes up to the Supreme Court again, I’m sure we can expect Alito to recuse himself, given his clear partiality when it comes to religious matters. Or Amy Coney Barret for that matter. Or Clarence Thomas. Or… you get my point.
Jk, they don’t have a code of ethics they actually have to abide by or anything.
Religious Schools Shun State Funding Despite Maine Victory [AP News]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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