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February 25, 2004
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations Decries
Supreme Court Ruling Allowing Religious Discrimination; “A Frontal
Assault Upon The First Amendment”
Today, the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America strongly criticized a
ruling by the United States Supreme Court which, the Union said,
“is a frontal assault upon the…First Amendment [of the
Constitution].” The ruling was announced this morning in the case
of Locke v. Davey in which the UOJCA joined in filing a “friend of
the court” brief in support of Mr. Joshua Davey.
The case arose from a decision by Washington State to revoke its
award of a “Promise Scholarship” to Joshua Davey. Washington
established the Promise program to reward achieving students and
encourage their further study in-state. Davey met all of
eligibility criteria (which had nothing to do with religion) and
was awarded his Promise Scholarship. The scholarship was revoked
when the State learned that Davey decided to attend Northwest
College a (duly accredited Christian college) and pursue as one of
his two majors Pastoral Studies. Upon his scholarship being
revoked, Davey sued claiming that his constitutionally protected
rights to the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech and
equal protection rights were violated. Washington State asserted
that their revocation of his scholarship was required by a state
constitutional ban on public funds supporting religious activity.
(Washington’s “Blaine Amendment,” is shared by 37 other state
constitutions.) While a trial court ruled for Washington, the
federal appeals court ruled in favor of Davey. The U.S. Court of
Appeals stated that the policy disqualifying Davey “lacked
neutrality on its face” and that forcing Davey to choose between
forgoing his chosen course of study or foregoing his scholarship
was a clear violation of the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution which could not be ignored on the basis of a state
constitutional provision. The UOJCA agreed with the Appeals court
analysis, but this morning the Supreme Court rejected that
position.
The Supreme Court ruled against Mr. Davey by reasoning that the
revocation of his scholarship was not a sufficiently serious
infringement, like a criminal sanction or fine, upon his religious
liberty, and that Davey remains free to pursue his religious
studies, albeit without the support of the state scholarship.
UOJCA public policy director Nathan Diament, issued the following
statement as an initial reaction to the Court’s ruling:
Today is a sad day for
America’s “first freedom” of religious liberty. Our nation’s
highest court has approved state action which denies a person a
government benefit solely upon the basis that the person is
engaged in what the Court acknowledges is constitutionally
protected religious exercise. This is a frontal assault upon the
Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. In the coming days
we will assess the Court’s opinion closely and try to identify
means of remedying this terrible ruling which all Americans who
cherish liberty should find worrisome.”
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