Cite as: 530 U. S. 793 (2000)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
It is perhaps conceivable that courts could take upon themselves the task of distinguishing among the myriad kinds of possible aid based on the ease of diverting each kind. But it escapes us how a court might coherently draw any such line. It not only is far more workable, but also is actually related to real concerns about preventing advancement of religion by government, simply to require, as did Zobrest, Agostini, and Allen, that a program of aid to schools not provide improper content and that it determine eligibility and allocate the aid on a permissible basis.11
C
The dissent serves up a smorgasbord of 11 factors that, depending on the facts of each case "in all its particularity," post, at 877, could be relevant to the constitutionality of a school-aid program. And those 11 are a bare minimum. We are reassured that there are likely more.12 See post, at 885, 888. Presumably they will be revealed in future cases, as needed, but at least one additional factor is evident from the dissent itself: The dissent resurrects the concern for political divisiveness that once occupied the Court but that post-Aguilar cases have rightly disregarded. Compare post, at 868, 872, 901, 902, 909, n. 27, with Agostini, 521 U. S., at 233-234; Bowen, 487 U. S., at 617, n. 14; Amos, 483 U. S., at 339-340, n. 17. As Justice O'Connor explained in dissent in Aguilar: "It is curious indeed to base our interpretation of the Constitution on speculation as to the likelihood of a phenomenon which the parties may create merely by
11 Justice O'Connor agrees that the Constitution does not bar divertible aid. See post, at 857 (opinion concurring in judgment). She also finds actual diversion unproblematic if "true private-choice" directs the aid. See post, at 842. And even when there is not such private choice, she thinks that some amount of actual diversion is tolerable and that safeguards for preventing and detecting actual diversion may be minimal, as we explain further, infra, at 832-834.
12 It is thus surprising for the dissent to accuse us of following a rule of "breathtaking . . . manipulability." Post, at 901, n. 19.
825
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