Supreme Court Rules Maine Cannot Exclude Religious Schools from Tuition-Assistance Program

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that it is unconstitutional for Maine to exclude religious schools from a program that provides tuition assistance for students to attend private schools.

The Court, in a 6-3 ruling in Carson v. Makin, found that the program violates the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.

The program requires rural communities without public secondary schools to either sign contracts with nearby public schools or to pay tuition at a private school chosen by parents that is a “nonsectarian school in accordance with the First Amendment of the...