The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America welcomes the
decision of the United States Supreme Court last Friday to reconsider
its 1985 decision in Aguilar v. Felton.
The 1985 decision barred public
school teachers from teaching remedial education classes within
parochial school premises and necessitated that such classes required
by law to be offered to all students of need be taught in trailers
located nearby. The Aguilar decision has been a costly burden to state
and local governments (who have rented the trailers at a cost of
thousands of dollars) and an even more costly burden upon students who
require special educational assistance. The Orthodox Union has
advocated the reversal of this decision since it was handed down by the
Court.
"The Aguilar decision was a peak of Supreme Court decisions that read
the Constitution's Establishment Clause as a tool against the
accommodation of religion in American society," said Nathan Diament,
director of the Orthodox Union's Institute for Public Affairs. "The
Orthodox Union has worked hard over the years to have this misreading of
the Constitution corrected," continued Diament, "and we will continue
our work until the First Amendment is recognized as standing for a
religiously pluralistic society in which religious citizens are
conferred and enjoy the same benefits as atheists and secularists.
The
Orthodox Union's Institute for Public Affairs will work with the
coalition of concerned groups to ensure that the Supreme Court reverses
Aguilar this term."
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