Cite as: 530 U. S. 793 (2000)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
Justice Thomas announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which The Chief Justice, Justice Scalia, and Justice Kennedy join.
As part of a longstanding school-aid program known as Chapter 2, the Federal Government distributes funds to state and local governmental agencies, which in turn lend educational materials and equipment to public and private schools, with the enrollment of each participating school determining the amount of aid that it receives. The question is whether Chapter 2, as applied in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, is a law respecting an establishment of religion, because many of the private schools receiving Chapter 2 aid in that parish are religiously affiliated. We hold that Chapter 2 is not such a law.
I
A
Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981, Pub. L. 97-35, 95 Stat. 469, as amended, 20 U. S. C. §§ 7301-7373,1 has its origins in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), Pub. L. 89-10, 79 Stat. 55, and is a close cousin of the provision of the ESEA
Association by Robert H. Chanin, Jeremiah A. Collins, and Michael D. Simpson; for the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs by Dennis Rapps, David Zwiebel, Nathan Diament, and Nathan Lewin; and for the National School Boards Association et al. by Julie Underwood, Jay Worona, and Pilar Sokol.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the Christian Legal Society et al. by Steven T. McFarland, Samuel B. Casey, and Carl H. Esbeck; for the Institute for Justice et al. by William H. Mellor and Clint Bolick; for the Pacific Legal Foundation by Sharon L. Browne and Deborah J. La Fetra; and for the Rutherford Institute by John W. Whitehead and Steven H. Aden.
1 Chapter 2 is now technically Subchapter VI of Chapter 70 of 20 U. S. C., where it was codified by the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994, Pub. L. 103-382, 108 Stat. 3707. For convenience, we will use the term "Chapter 2," as the lower courts did. Prior to 1994, Chapter 2 was codified at 20 U. S. C. §§ 2911-2976 (1988 ed.).
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