AFT President Randi Weingarten Responds to the Trinity Supreme Court Ruling

WASHINGTON—Statement by AFT President Randi Weingarten on the Supreme Court’s decision in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia Inc. v. Comer:

“This ruling should not be read beyond what it is—a narrow decision about whether a church can get public funds for a playground that would be available to all, a question that had already been rendered moot by the Missouri governor’s actions making churches eligible to use state funding for nonreligious uses. It is crystal clear that the court here avoided the larger constitutional issue: Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor’s dissent raises concerns about this case being used to promote the direct public funding of religious institutions, and these concerns are directly met by Chief Justice Roberts’ footnote that the court does not address ‘religious uses of funding’ in this case and by Justice Breyer’s statement in his concurrence that, while he agrees with the outcome, this decision should not be broadly read. 

“This decision was about providing a generally available benefit to a church that was not going to be used for religious purposes and would not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. That is consistent with the Blaine Amendment, which was never intended to prevent religious organizations from receiving funding for uses that are open to all and do not promote religion or discriminate. Therefore, the Supreme Court’s Trinity decision cannot be read as opening the door for states to promote religion or expand vouchers.”