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Opinion of the Court
form over substance." Ibid. We refused to presume that a publicly employed interpreter would be pressured by the pervasively sectarian surroundings to inculcate religion by "add[ing] to [or] subtract[ing] from" the lectures translated. Ibid. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, we assumed instead that the interpreter would dutifully discharge her responsibilities as a full-time public employee and comply with the ethical guidelines of her profession by accurately translating what was said. Id., at 12. Because the only government aid in Zobrest was the interpreter, who was herself not inculcating any religious messages, no government indoctrination took place and we were able to conclude that "the provision of such assistance [was] not barred by the Establishment Clause." Id, at 13. Zobrest therefore expressly rejected the notion—relied on in Ball and Aguilar— that, solely because of her presence on private school property, a public employee will be presumed to inculcate religion in the students. Zobrest also implicitly repudiated another assumption on which Ball and Aguilar turned: that the presence of a public employee on private school property creates an impermissible "symbolic link" between government and religion.
Justice Souter contends that Zobrest did not undermine the "presumption of inculcation" erected in Ball and Aguilar, and that our conclusion to the contrary rests on a "mistaken reading" of Zobrest. Post, at 248 (dissenting opinion). In his view, Zobrest held that the Establishment Clause tolerates the presence of public employees in sectarian schools "only . . . in . . . limited circumstances"—i. e., when the employee "simply translates for one student the material presented to the class for the benefit of all students." Post, at 249. The sign-language interpreter in Zo-brest is unlike the remedial instructors in Ball and Aguilar because signing, Justice Souter explains, "[cannot] be understood as an opportunity to inject religious content in what [is] supposed to be secular instruction." Post, at 248-249. He is thus able to conclude that Zobrest is distinguishable
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