US Supreme Court rules against Maine's ban on tuition aid to religious schools

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

52% :Kelly Shackelford, president of First Liberty Institute, a law firm focused on religious freedom, commented: "We are thrilled that the Court affirmed once again that religious discrimination will not be tolerated in this country.
49% : The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled 6-3 that Maine's policy barring students in a student-aid program from using their aid to attend "sectarian" schools violates the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.
49% : Breyer argued that the interpretation of the First Amendment advanced by the majority opinion will work against its "general purpose," which he said is "to allow for an American society with practitioners of over 100 different religions, and those who do not practice religion at all, to live together without serious risk of religion-based social divisions."
47% :Having chosen to fund private schools through its aid program, Roberts said, Maine cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.
47% :About 5,000 Maine students are eligible for this program, which excludes private schools that are "associated with a particular faith or belief system and which, in addition to teaching academic subjects, promotes the faith or belief system with which it is associated and/or presents the material taught through the lens of this faith," which Maine considers "sectarian".
45% : He also argued that Maine "excludes schools from its tuition program not because of the schools' religious character but because the schools will use the funds to teach and promote religious ideals.""State funding of religious activity risks the very social conflict based upon religion that the Religion Clauses were designed to prevent.
44% :Roberts noted that Maine "pays tuition for certain students at private schools -- so long as the schools are not religious.
42% : Today's win helps to end anti-religious discrimination and expands sorely-needed school choice for low-income families."

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