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Changing Interpretations Of The Establishment Clause: Financial Support Of Religious Schools, Bryan D. Lemoine

Missouri Law Review

In Wolman v. Walter, Justice Stevens voiced concem that the "'high and impregnable' wall between church and state, has been reduced to a 'blurred, indistinct, and variable barrier.' 2 The court had sacrificed predictability for flexibility? While this may be true in some areas of Establishment Clause jurisprudence, it is no longer true in cases involving benefits to religious organizations. If the programs equally benefit both secular and "similarly situated" religious organizations, there is no violation of the Establishment Clause.4 Jackson v. Benson is an expression of this view. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in upholding a program designed to provide …