884
Souter, J., dissenting
mission, but this neutrality is not alone sufficient to qualify the aid as constitutional. It is to be considered only along with other characteristics of aid, its administration, its recipients, or its potential that have been emphasized over the years as indicators of just how religious the intent and effect of a given aid scheme really is. See, e. g., Tilton, 403 U. S., at 677-678 (opinion of Burger, C. J.) (acknowledging "no single constitutional caliper"); Meek, 421 U. S., at 358-359 (noting considerations as guidelines only and discussing them as a matter of degree); School Dist. of Grand Rapids v. Ball, 473 U. S. 373, 383 (1985) (quoting Meek), overruled in part by Agostini, 521 U. S., at 203; Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet, 512 U. S. 687, 720 (1994) (opinion of O'Connor, J.) ("Experience proves that the Establishment Clause, like the Free Speech Clause, cannot easily be reduced to a single test"); Rosenberger, 515 U. S., at 847-849 (O'Connor, J., concurring) (discussing need for line-drawing); id., at 852 (noting lack of a single "Grand Unified Theory" for Establishment Clause and citing Kiryas Joel); cf. Agostini, supra, at 232-233 (examining a variety of factors). Thus, the basic principle of establishment scrutiny of aid remains the principle as stated in Everson, that there may be no public aid to religion or support for the religious mission of any institution.
B
The insufficiency of evenhandedness neutrality as a stand-alone criterion of constitutional intent or effect has been clear from the beginning of our interpretative efforts, for an obvious reason. Evenhandedness in distributing a benefit approaches the equivalence of constitutionality in this area only when the term refers to such universality of distribution that it makes no sense to think of the benefit as going to any discrete group. Conversely, when evenhandedness refers to distribution to limited groups within society, like groups of schools or schoolchildren, it does make sense to regard the benefit as aid to the recipients. See, e. g., Everson, 330 U. S.,
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