Supreme Court scrutinizes Maine tuition program in religious liberty case

Washington — The Supreme Court's conservative majority on Wednesday appeared likely to side with Maine families who are seeking to use a state tuition assistance program to send their children to religious schools, a decision that could allow public benefits to flow more freely to such religious institutions.

Across nearly two hours of arguments in the case, known as Carson v. Makin, several members of the court's conservative wing indicated to lawyers defending the program that it was discriminating against schools on the basis of religion, which the parents who brought the suit argue violates their constitutional rights.

"With, say, two neighbors in Maine, in a neighborhood, and there is not a public school available, and the first neighbor says we're going to send our child, children, to secular private school, they get the benefit. The next-door neighbor says, 'Well, we want to send our children to a religious private school, and they're not going to get the benefit,'" Justice Brett Kavanaugh said. "That's just discrimination on the basis of religion right there at the neighborhood level."