Mitchell v. Helms, 530 U.S. 793, 39 (2000)

Page:   Index   Previous  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  Next

832

MITCHELL v. HELMS

Opinion of Thomas, J.

otherwise. Respondents also offer no evidence that religious schools have received software from the government that has an impermissible content.

There is evidence that equipment has been, or at least easily could be, diverted for use in religious classes. See, e. g., App. 108a, 118a, 205a-207a. Justice O'Connor, however, finds the safeguards against diversion adequate to prevent and detect actual diversion. Post, at 861, 867 (opinion concurring in judgment). The safeguards on which she relies reduce to three: (1) signed assurances that Chapter 2 aid will be used only for secular, neutral, and nonideological purposes, (2) monitoring visits, and (3) the requirement that equipment be labeled as belonging to Chapter 2.14 As to the

first, Justice O'Connor rightly places little reliance on it. Post, at 862. As to the second, monitoring by SEA and LEA officials is highly unlikely to prevent or catch diversion.15 As to the third, compliance with the labeling re-14 Many of the other safeguards on which Justice O'Connor relies are safeguards against improper content, not against diversion. See post, at 862, 863 (opinion concurring in judgment). Content is a different matter from diversion and is much easier to police than is the mutable use of materials and equipment (which is one reason that we find the safeguards against improper content adequate, infra, at 834-835). Similarly, the statutory provisions against supplanting nonfederal funds and against paying federal funds for religious worship or instruction, on which Justice O'Connor also relies, post, at 861, are of little, if any, relevance to diver-sion—the former because diversion need not supplant, and the latter because religious schools receive no funds, 20 U. S. C. § 7372(c)(1).

15 The SEA director acknowledged as much when he said that the SEA enforces the rule against diversion "as best we can," only visits "[o]ne or two" of the private schools whenever it reviews an LEA, and reviews each LEA only once every three years. App. 94a-95a. When asked whether there was "any way" for SEA officials to know of diversion of a Chapter 2 computer, he responded, "No, there is no way." Id., at 118a.

Monitoring by the Jefferson Parish LEA is similarly ineffective. The LEA visits each private school only once a year, for less than an hour and a half, and alerts the school to the visit in advance. Id., at 142a, 151a-152a, 182a-183a. The monitoring visits consist of reviewing records of equipment use and of speaking to a single contact person. Self-reporting is the sole source for the records of use. Id., at 140a. In the case of overhead

Page:   Index   Previous  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007