Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, decided on Tuesday, was about more than tax credits. It crystalized a debate about the role religion should play in public life. It is a debate both worth having and which we must have.
Of course, this debate did take place in response to tax credits. Montana offered them to those donating money for scholarships so that children could attend private schools. By including private religious schools, Montana’s supreme court struck down the program as violating the state constitution’s ban on government aid to any entity “controlled in whole or in part by any church, sect, or denomination.” By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court said provision violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. Together with the Establishment Clause, this section of the First Amendment states that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
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