December 8, 1999
Supreme Court hears
arguments in parochial aid case
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--Waiting in early-morning darkness 14 years ago for the bus to Roosevelt Middle School in Kenner, La., Amy Helms stood at the beginning of a legal odyssey that finally reached the Supreme Court last week.
___The 13-year-old girl's mother, Neva Helms, worried about children being harassed at street corners before dawn, so she asked Jefferson Parish public school officials why the bus came so early. The answer--the driver also had to fit in rides for students going to Catholic schools--sent Helms researching just how much support religious schools get from taxpayers.
___The Baptist laywoman found a lot. Special education teachers on the public payroll in Catholic schools, public subsidies for Catholic school lunch workers, public money reimbursing private schools for state-required record keeping, and state and federal programs channeling instructional equipment to private schools.
___Joined by another public school parent, Helms filed a lawsuit against the federal government and other defendants in U.S. District Court in New Orleans. She argued public aid to schools of any religious leaning violates the Constitution by breaching the separation of church and state.
___The high court heard oral arguments in the case Dec. 1.
___In a wide-ranging, hour-long hearing, lawyers debated the 1998 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down a 32-year-old federal law allowing public school systems to lend computers and other equipment to church-run private schools.
___Michael McConnell, the University of Utah law professor arguing on behalf of Catholic school parents in Louisiana who support the law, said the statute in question is "particularly careful" in providing safeguards that the material will be used for secular purposes.
___Justices peppered the lawyers with questions about how far relationships between schools and government could go, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist asking about the hypothetical instance of a county deciding it would build a new public and private school, each at public expense. McConnell said that would be an example of excessive entanglement.
___McConnell also noted that in the case of computers, he believes their authorized use is within "narrow" limitations.
___"The case here is not one in which computers can be used for whatever you want," he said.
___Deputy Solicitor General Barbara Underwood argued the statute is not used to support religious instruction or indoctrination, thus it "supplements" rather than "supplants" the school's programs.
___The issue of whether religious schools are supplemented or supplanted by such a law was a focus of the justices' questions.
___Lee Boothby, who represents the parents who first questioned the statute 14 years ago, said the case puts at stake whether taxpayers must subsidize religious education. He said the problem with the statute is that "sectarian schools do not compartmentalize the teaching of religion," and thus, it would be hard to know if their use of government-purchased computers is diverted to religious purposes. "I don't know how you're going to police that," he said.
___But Justice Antonin Scalia said there has not been evidence of a "widespread problem of infraction."
___As the justices grappled with where a line could be drawn for permissible government action, the chief justice asked Boothby for an example of permissible governmental aid to schools. The lawyer suggested musical instruments and, answering another question from Rehnquist, said they would still be permissible if the musicians used them to play "O Come, All Ye Faithful."
___Justice David Souter asked about the necessity for some criteria, saying the court seems to be "groping" for some way to determine when there is a risk of government entanglement with religion.
___"One of the most important concerns in reaching a solution to this very important question is whether there's an appreciable risk that what the government is doing ultimately results in inculcation," Boothby responded.
___Speaking outside on the steps of the Supreme Court, the two Louisiana grandmothers who filed suit opposing the statute declared their hopes that the court will decide in their favor and, in their opinion, maintain the separation of church and state.
___"Although I'm a practicing Catholic, I'm a firm believer that ... the government should not be involved with religion," said Marie Schneider of Terrytown, La. "I believe that when government and religion become so interwoven that they are a shade of tweed, it is religion and, in this case, my own, that suffers."
___Helms, the other original plaintiff, said only public schools should be benefiting from public funds.
___"I think when you choose a private school, you've made that choice to assume all responsibility," she said.
___Some court observers predict the decision the court makes, which is expected by next summer, could signal the direction justices might take on future cases involving vouchers.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!