A Supreme Court ruling that a church-run preschool must be granted publicly funded tire scraps for its playground seemed on Monday to be narrowly drawn, attracting even the votes of two of the court’s liberal justices, Elena Kagan and Stephen G. Breyer.
But school choice advocates across the nation saw the decision as a game changer in the divisive debate over publicly funded vouchers for private religious schools. And their judgment seemed validated on Tuesday when the legal ramifications began to reshape education debates across the country.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sent two cases back to state courts for reconsideration in light of the ruling for Trinity Lutheran Church in Columbia, Mo. One of those cases concerned a program in Colorado — ruled unconstitutional by the state’s highest court — that awarded public funds to help families cover tuition at private schools, including sectarian ones.
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But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, argued that the decision was not just about a playground. The opinion noted that the center advertised that the learning center serves as “a ministry of the church and incorporates daily religion and developmentally appropriate activities.”
Justice Sotomayor said the Trinity decision blurred the lines between church and state, and was a “radical mistake.”
