Economy
Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Religious Schools, Says Aid Bans Are Unconstitutional
The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision on Tuesday morning that Montana’s ban on religious schools receiving state aid — specifically scholarship funds — is illegal and that it’s unconstitutional for states to exclude religious schools from such programs.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Montana program offered $150 in tax credits for donations to scholarships for private school attendees. After a decision was made by state tax officials that religious institutions didn’t qualify, the case was heard by the Montana Supreme Court. The court cited a state amendment banning aid to sectarian schools and decided to dismantle the entire program.
The ruling will make it easier for religious schools to obtain aid — opening the door to more school choice policies, potentially including the funding of vouchers.
The case was appealed to the Supreme Court by parents suing for aid to assist in paying for their children’s religious private school education.
The case, Espinoza v. Montana Department Of Revenue, saw conservative justices in the majority and Chief Justice John Roberts penned the opinion. The ruling will make it easier for religious schools to obtain aid — opening the door to more school choice policies, potentially including the funding of vouchers.
While vacationing in the island of St. Croix for the holidays, President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law the massive $1.65 omnibus spending package.
The whopping 4,155 pages was supported by only nine House Republicans and 13 Senate Republicans. Majority of criticism from the GOP includes concerns that the bill was rushed and crammed with wasteful spending by a lame-duck Democratic-dominated Congress. The recourse will punish American families by adding to the national debt and exacerbate inflation.
“Today, I signed the bipartisan omnibus bill, ending a year of historic progress. It’ll invest in medical research, safety, veteran health care, disaster recovery, VAWA funding — and gets crucial assistance to Ukraine,” Biden tweeted. “Looking forward to more in 2023.”
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell “praised the bill on the grounds that it represents a real decrease in discretionary spending. He presented it as a positive that nondefense spending jumped by only 5.5 percent, from $730 billion to $772.5 billion, amid an inflation rate of 7.1 percent” writes National Review.
“The bipartisan government-funding bill that Senators Shelby and Leahy have finished negotiating does exactly the opposite of what the Biden administration first proposed,” he said. “This bill provides a substantial real-dollar increase to the defense baseline . . . and a substantial real-dollar cut to the non-defense, non-veterans baseline,” McConnell insisted as negotiations were wrapping up.
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, however, stated his strong disapproval of the bill before it even advanced. Affirming a letter from 13 House Republicans, McCarthy demanded the bill is reckless, irresponsible, and a “purposeful refusal to secure and defend our borders.”
For example, it failed to incorporate protections for Title 42, the pandemic policy that allows illegal immigrants to be expelled on a public-health basis, which currently hangs in the balance at the Supreme Court.
National Review adds, “The funding in the bill, which averted a federal government shutdown before the new year, includes an allocation of $45 billion in defense assistance to Ukraine. Some Republican priorities, such as Electoral Count Act reform and a bigger military budget, were nested in with Democratic appropriations, such as increased funding for Medicaid and food stamps.”
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