Professor Aaron Saiger was quoted in The Los Angeles Times in an article examining the potential Supreme Court decision that would allow government funding of church-run schools.
After imposing a strict church-state separation for decades, the Supreme Court appears poised to allow — and in some cases even require — more government funding of church-run schools.
Legal experts say that could open the door to church-sponsored charter schools operating with public funds in many cities.
The court’s shift to the right on religion and schools may not be as sharp and dramatic as on abortion and guns, but its impact could prove to be just as far-reaching.
Previously the high court held the Constitution called for a clear separation of church and state, which had long been interpreted to mean that public funds could not flow to religious schools.
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Some legal experts foresee the more conservative high court deciding that parents have a right to send their children to religious schools at public expense.
“The really big question that Carson tees up is whether by funding public schools, the state incurs a duty to fund religious schools as well,” said Aaron Saiger, a law professor at Fordham in New York. This could trigger “a cataclysmic change in the place of public education in American society and government. But if one extends the kinds of arguments that have been winning in the Supreme Court, this may be the future.”