FFRF filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of the state of Maine on October 29, 2021. At issue in this case is Maine’s refusal to use taxpayer money to fund religious education. The state of Maine offered families a tuition assistance program to help fund sending kids located in rural areas to a private school if their town did not have a public one. Parents who wanted to send their kids to private religious institutions sued for access to that funding. FFRF previously filed an amicus brief when Carson v. Makin was before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.
FFRF’s brief argued against the use of public money that would subsidize sectarian education because the Founders adopted the First Amendment to ensure that taxpayers are not compelled to subsidize a religion that is not their own. It also argued that the “no aid” principle avoids government entanglement with religious education and the government oversight that must necessarily be coupled with state funding.
FFRF was joined by the Center For Inquiry on this brief.
