From xxxxxx <[email protected]>
Subject Supreme Court Ruling Turns Separation of Church and State Into ‘Constitutional Violation,’ Warns Sotomayor
Date June 22, 2022 2:10 AM
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["We are witnessing one of the most extreme Supreme Courts in
modern history rewrite the most basic social commitments of our
society," said the head of one of the nations largest teachers
unions.]
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SUPREME COURT RULING TURNS SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE INTO
‘CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATION,’ WARNS SOTOMAYOR  
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Julia Conley
June 21, 2022
Common Dreams
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_ "We are witnessing one of the most extreme Supreme Courts in modern
history rewrite the most basic social commitments of our society,"
said the head of one of the nation's largest teachers unions. _

Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor sits during a group photo of the
justices at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on April 23, 2021.,
Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Image

 

U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday warned that the
court's right-wing majority had further eroded the nation's bedrock
laws separating church and government when it ruled that Maine must
include religious schools in a state-run tuition program.

"Today, the court leads us to a place where separation of church and
state becomes a constitutional violation," wrote
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the minority's dissent of the 6-3 decision.

Sotomayor was joined by fellow liberal Justices Elena Kagan and
Stephen Breyer to oppose the majority opinion in  _Carson v. Makin_,
which centered
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two families in Maine who wanted state taxpayers to pay for to
send their children to attend private religious schools.

In Maine, where many rural communities do not have public high
schools, towns must either contract with nearby public school
districts so children can receive education there or pay tuition at a
private "nonsectarian school in accordance with the First Amendment of
the United States Constitution."

The schools named in the case aim to instill "a Christian worldview"
in its students and are openly discriminatory against "homosexuals,
individuals who are transgender, and non-Christians," according to a
legal filing.

Under Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling, said one legal expert, those
institutions and others like them now have "a right to taxpayer
funding."

"Education is an opportunity for students to learn about themselves
and others, which is why all students deserve to see themselves
reflected in curricula and engage in learning that exposes them to new
points of view," said
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O'Connell, senior vice president for education at the Center for
American Progress. "By diverting tax dollars away from public schools
and to schools that can openly discriminate, this ruling puts these
core tenets in jeopardy."

In her dissent, Sotomayor wrote
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that the court's right-wing majority "continues to dismantle the wall
of separation between church and state that the Framers fought to
build."

"In just a few years, the Court has upended constitutional doctrine,"
the justice wrote, "shifting from a rule that permits States to
decline to fund religious organizations to one that requires States in
many circumstances to subsidize religious indoctrination with taxpayer
dollars."

The ruling follows
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a number of decisions by the court favoring the religious right in
recent years, including one allowing religious exemptions
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employers that don't want to include contraception in healthcare
coverage and one allowing Christian prayers
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government meetings.

The latest "radical ruling," said Becky Pringle, president of the
National Education Association, will undermine "public schools and the
students they serve."

"Forcing American taxpayers to fund private religious education—even
when those private schools fail to meet education standards,
intentionally discriminate against students, or use public funds to
promote religious training, worship, and instruction—erodes the
foundation of our democracy and harms students," Pringle said
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"We are witnessing one of the most extreme Supreme Courts in modern
history rewrite the most basic social commitments of our
society—that publicly-funded education should be free and open to
all without discrimination is one of those commitments," she added.
"Shamefully, today's decision tosses aside that social commitment."

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel
free to republish and share widely.

* Separation of Church and State
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