Maine allows tuition assistance for parents who have to send their children to private schools because there is no public school. The schools must be accredited. Maine prohibited parents from sending their children to religious schools even if the religious school had the exact same accreditation as the non-sectarian school.
The Constitution may prohibit the government from favoring religion, but it also prohibits the government from disfavoring religion, which is exactly what this Maine law did.
As I noted recently of a 5-2 state court ruling that held that elephants were not people, it seemed unlikely to me that the “2” who wanted to say elephants were persons would also agree that any unborn humans are persons.
“The Constitution may prohibit the government from favoring religion, but it also prohibits the government from disfavoring religion, which is exactly what this Maine law did.”
Spot on, bears repeating.
That’s exactly how I see it too.