‘The legislature crafted the poison pill explicitly to circumvent the Supreme Court’s decision’
The Ten Commandments stand at the 21st annual Bible Reading Marathon in Stuart, Florida, on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. (Photo by Joe Kovacs)
By Kate Anderson
Daily Caller News Foundation
A Christian school in Maine filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Education (DOE) for allegedly intending to circumvent a recent Supreme Court ruling barring the state from discriminating against religious schools.
In Carson v. Makin, the Supreme Court ruled that religious and private schools are eligible to receive tuition funds through the state’s school choice program, provided that they met the same requirements as other schools. In response, Maine lawmakers passed legislation that limited the ability for religious schools to gain an exemption from certain nondiscrimination rules while participating in the program, prompting First Liberty Institute to file a lawsuit on behalf of Bangor Christian School on Tuesday.
“From 1980 until the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Carson v. Makin, parents could not use their tuition benefit at a religious school. But in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision, the Maine legislature changed the law to require BCS to violate its sincerely held religious beliefs in order to participate,” a press release on the lawsuit read. “This ‘poison pill’ imposes requirements that will prohibit BCS from teaching from its religious perspective or considering in admissions applicants’ alignment with the school’s statement of faith and religious educational mission.”