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Full-Text Articles in Religion Law
The "Blaine" Debate: Must States Fund Religious Schools?, Laura S. Underkuffler
The "Blaine" Debate: Must States Fund Religious Schools?, Laura S. Underkuffler
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
In Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, the United States Supreme Court held-by a vote of 5 to 4-that the funding of religious schools with taxpayer money through voucher programs does not violate the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. Emboldened by this success, voucher proponents now attack state constitutional provisions (often called "Blaine Amendments") that prohibit taxpayer funding of religious schools. These state provisions, which may stand in the way of religious-school voucher programs, are attacked as violative of the federal Constitution, rooted in anti-religious bias, or otherwise illegal or unwise.
It is my view that efforts to force states …
Religious Freedom And The Church-State Relationship In Maryland, Kenneth Lasson
Religious Freedom And The Church-State Relationship In Maryland, Kenneth Lasson
All Faculty Scholarship
Maryland holds the unique and admirable distinction of having been the State whose early history most directly ensured, and whose citizenry was most directly affected by, the first amendment's grant of religious liberty. The Supreme Court's docket is still liberally sprinkled with petitions calling for renewed interpretation of the establishment clause, and Marylanders will soon vote upon a proposed new state constitution with a similar provision - hence, the opportuneness for tracing Maryland's contribution to the cause of toleration and to the principle of church-state separation.
The scope of this article will not extend beyond a sketch of the important …