November, 02 2010, 12:33pm EDT
ACLU To Appear Before Supreme Court On Wednesday To Challenge Discriminatory Arizona School Tuition Program
State-Certified Tuition Disbursement Organizations Discriminate Based On Religion
WASHINGTON
The
American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Arizona will be before
the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, November 3 to challenge an Arizona
school tuition program that awards most of the state-funded, private
school scholarships on an unconstitutional religiously discriminatory
basis.
Under the challenged program, Arizona
scholarships are awarded by School Tuition Organizations (STOs). These
organizations are certified and closely supervised by the state and
financed exclusively by state income-tax revenues. The scholarships are
funded through state income-tax credits that are given for payments that
taxpayers make to the STOs. More than half of the scholarships are
awarded by STOs that discriminate based on religious criteria and
require students to attend religious schools in order to receive
scholarships.
More information about the case is available online at: www.aclu.org/religion-belief/arizona-christian-school-tuition-organization-v-winn
WHAT:
Oral arguments in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn,
a Supreme Court case that challenges whether Arizona's use of tax
credits funneled through state-certified and state-supervised
organizations to award student scholarships based on religious criteria
and for use in religious schools violates the Establishment Clause.
Attorneys will be available for comment following arguments.
WHO:
Paul Bender, a law professor at
Arizona State University's law school and former U.S. Deputy Solicitor
General, will be arguing the case on behalf of the ACLU of Arizona.
Other attorneys on the case who will be in attendance are Steven R.
Shapiro, Legal Director of the ACLU; Daniel Mach, Director of the ACLU
Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief and Dan Pochoda, Legal
Director of the ACLU of Arizona.
WHEN:
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
10:00 a.m. EDT
WHERE:
Supreme Court of the United States
Washington, D.C.
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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