Locke v. Davey, 540 U.S. 712, 13 (2004)

Page:   Index   Previous  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  Next

724

LOCKE v. DAVEY

Opinion of the Court

Far from evincing the hostility toward religion which was manifest in Lukumi, we believe that the entirety of the Promise Scholarship Program goes a long way toward including religion in its benefits.8 The program permits students to attend pervasively religious schools, so long as they are accredited. As Northwest advertises, its "concept of education is distinctly Christian in the evangelical sense." App. 168. It prepares all of its students, "through instruction, through modeling, [and] through [its] classes, to use . . . the Bible as their guide, as the truth," no matter their chosen

however, the provision in question is not a Blaine Amendment. Tr. of Oral Arg. 5; see Reply Brief for Petitioners 6-7. The enabling Act of 1889, which authorized the drafting of the Washington Constitution, required the state constitution to include a provision "for the establishment and maintenance of systems of public schools, which shall be . . . free from sectarian control." Act of Feb. 22, 1889, ch. 180, § 4, ¶ Fourth, 25 Stat. 676. This provision was included in Article IX, § 4, of the Washington Constitution ("All schools maintained or supported wholly or in part by the public funds shall be forever free from sectarian control or influence"), and is not at issue in this case. Neither Davey nor amici have established a credible connection between the Blaine Amendment and Article I, § 11, the relevant constitutional provision. Accordingly, the Blaine Amendment's history is simply not before us.

8 Washington has also been solicitous in ensuring that its constitution is not hostile toward religion, see State ex rel. Gallwey v. Grimm, 146 Wash. 2d 445, 470, 48 P. 3d 274, 286 (2002) (en banc) ("[I]t was never the intention that our constitution should be construed in any manner indicating any hostility toward religion" (internal quotation marks omitted)), and at least in some respects, its constitution provides greater protection of religious liberties than the Free Exercise Clause, see First Covenant Church of Seattle v. Seattle, 120 Wash. 2d 203, 223-229, 840 P. 2d 174, 186-188 (1992) (en banc) (rejecting standard in Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith, 494 U. S. 872 (1990), in favor of more protective rule); Munns v. Martin, 131 Wash. 2d 192, 201, 930 P. 2d 318, 322 (1997) (en banc) (holding a city ordinance that imposed controls on demolition of historic structures inapplicable to the Catholic Church's plan to demolish an old school building and build a new pastoral center because the facilities are intimately associated with the church's religious mission). We have found nothing in Washington's overall approach that indicates it "single[s] out" anyone "for special burdens on the basis of . . . religious calling," as Justice Scalia contends, post, at 731.

Page:   Index   Previous  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007