1 (Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2021

Syllabus

NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. 

## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Syllabus

CARSON, AS PARENT AND NEXT FRIEND OF O. C., ET AL

. v

. MAKIN

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

No. 20–1088. Argued December 8, 2021—Decided June 21, 2022
Maine has enacted a program of tuit ion assistance for parents who live

in school districts that neither operate a secondary school of their own nor contract with a particular school in another district. Under that program, parents designate the seco ndary school they would like their child to attend, and the school dist rict transmits payments to that school to help defray the costs of tuition. Participating private schools must meet certain requirements to be eligible to receive tuition pay

ments, including either accreditat ion from the New England Associa

tion of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) or approval from the Maine De

partment of Education. But they may otherwise differ from Maine public schools in various ways. Since 1981, however, Maine has lim

ited tuition assistance payments to “nonsectarian” schools.

Petitioners sought tuition assistance to send their children to Ban

gor Christian Schools (BCS) and Te mple Academy. Although both BCS and Temple Academy are accredited by NEASC, the schools do not qualify as “nonsectarian” and are thus ineligible to receive tuition payments under Maine’s tuition assist ance program. Petitioners sued the commissioner of the Maine Departme nt of Education, alleging that the “nonsectarian” requirement viol ated the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Four teenth Amendment. The District Court rejected petitioners’ constitu tional claims and granted judgment to the commissioner. The First Circuit affirmed. Held : Maine’s “nonsectarian” requirem ent for otherwise generally avail

able tuition assistance payments vi olates the Free Exercise Clause. Pp. 6–18.

(a) The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment protects2 CARSON v. MAKIN

Syllabus

against “indirect coercion or penaltie s on the free exercise of religion, not just outright prohibitions.” Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Assn ., 485 U. S. 439, 450. The Court recently applied this principle in the context of two state efforts to withhold otherwise avail

able public benefits from re ligious organizations. In Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer , 582 U. S. ___, the Court considered a Missouri program that offered grants to qualifying nonprofit organi

zations that installed cushioning playground surfaces, but denied such grants to any applicant that was owned or controlled by a church, sect, or other religious entity. The Court held that the Free Exercise Clause did not permit Missouri to “expressly discriminate[ ] against otherwise eligible recipients by disqualifying them from a public benefit solely because of their religious character. ” 582 U. S., at ___–___. And in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue , 591 U. S. ___, the Court held that a provision of the Montan a Constitution barring government aid to any school “contro lled in whole or in part by any church, sect, or denomination” violated the Free Exe rcise Clause by prohibiting fami

lies from using otherwise availabl e scholarship funds at religious schools. 591 U. S., at ___. “A St ate need not subsidize private educa

tion,” the Court concluded, “[b]ut once a State decides to do so, it can

not disqualify some private schools so lely because they are religious.” Id., at ___. Pp. 6–8.

(b) The principles applied in Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza suffice to resolve this case. Maine offers its citizens a benefit: tuition assis

tance payments for any family whose school district does not provide a public secondary school. Just like the wide range of nonprofit organ

izations eligible to receive pl ayground resurfacing grants in Trinity Lutheran , a wide range of private school s are eligible to receive Maine tuition assistance payments here. And like the daycare center in Trin

ity Lutheran , the religious schools in this case are disqualified from this generally available benefit “sol ely because of their religious char

acter.” 582 U. S., at ___. Likewise, in Espinoza , as here, the Court considered a state benefit program th at provided public funds to sup

port tuition payments at private sc hools and specifically carved out private religious schools fr om those eligible to rece ive such funds. Both that program and this one disqualif y certain private schools from pub

lic funding “solely becaus e they are religious.” 591 U. S., at ___. A law that operates in that manner must be subjected to “the strictest scru

tiny.” Id. , at ___–___.

Maine’s program cannot survive strict scrutiny. A neutral benefit program in which public funds flow to religious organizations through the independent choices of private benefit recipients does not offend the Establishment Clause. See Zelman v. Simmons-Harris , 536 U. S. 639, 652–653. Maine’s decision to continue excluding religious schools3 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Syllabus

from its tuition assistance program after Zelman thus promotes stricter separation of church and state than the Federal Constitution requires. But a State’s antiestablis hment interest does not justify en

actments that exclude some members of the community from an oth

erwise generally available public be nefit because of their religious ex

ercise. Pp. 9–11.

(c) The First Circuit’s attempts to recharacterize the nature of Maine’s tuition assistance program do not suffice to distinguish this case from Trinity Lutheran or Espinoza. Pp. 11–18.

(1) The First Circuit held that the “nonsectarian” requirement was constitutional because the benefit wa s properly viewed not as tuition payments to be used at approved private schools but instead as fund

ing for the “rough equivalent of the public school education that Maine may permissibly require to be secular.” 979 F. 3d 21, 44. But the stat

ute does not say anything like that. The benefit provided by statute is tuition at a public or private school, selected by the parent, with no suggestion that the “private school” must somehow provide a “public” education. Moreover, the differences between private schools eligible to receive tuition assistance under Maine’s program and a Maine pub

lic school are numerous an d important. To start with, private schools do not have to accept all students, while public school s generally do. In addition, the free public educatio n that Maine insists it is providing through the tuition assistance progra m is often not free, as some par

ticipating private schools charge several times the maximum benefit that Maine is willing to provide. And the curriculum ta ught at partic

ipating private schools need not even resemble that taught in the Maine public schools.

The key manner in which pa rticipating private schools are required to resemble Maine public schools, ho wever, is that they must be secu

lar. Maine may provide a strictly secular education in its public schools. But BCS and Temple Ac ademy—like numerous other recipi

ents of Maine tuition assistance pa yments—are not public schools. Maine has chosen to offer tuition assistance that parents may direct to the public or pr ivate schools of their choice. Maine’s administration of that benefit is subject to the free exercise principles governing any public benefit program—including th e prohibition on denying the ben

efit based on a recipient’s religious exercise. Pp. 11–15.

(2) The Court of Appeals also attempted to distinguish this case from Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza on the ground that the funding re

strictions in those cases were “solely status-based religious discrimi

nation,” while the challenged provis ion here “imposes a use-based re

striction.” 979 F. 3d, at 35, 37–38. Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza held that the Free Exercise Clause forbids discrimination on the basis of religious status. But those deci sions never suggested that use-based4 CARSON v. MAKIN

Syllabus

discrimination is any less offensive to the Free Exercise Clause. This case illustrates why. “[E]ducating young people in their faith, incul

cating its teachings, and training them to live their faith are responsi

bilities that lie at the very core of the mission of a private religious school.” Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru , 591 U. S. ___, ___. In short, the prohibition on status-based discrimination un

der the Free Exercise Clause is not a permission to engage in usebased discrimination.

Locke v. Davey , 540 U. S. 712, does not assist Maine here. The schol

arship funds at issue in Locke were intended to be used “to prepare for the ministry.” Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___. Locke ’s reasoning expressly turned on what it identifi ed as the “historic and substantial state interest” against using “taxpay er funds to support church lead

ers.” 540 U. S., at 722, 725. But “it is clear that there is no ‘historic and substantial’ tradition against ai ding [private religious] schools” that is “comparable.” Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___. Locke cannot be read to generally authorize the State to exclude religious persons from the enjoyment of public benefits on the basis of their anticipated religious use of the benefits. Pp. 15–18. 979 F. 3d 21, reversed and remanded.

R OBERTS , C. J., delivered the opinio n of the Court, in which T HOMAS , A LITO , G ORSUCH , K AVANAUGH , and B ARRETT , JJ., joined. B REYER , J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which K AGAN J., joined, and in which S O

TOMAYOR , J., joined as to all but Part I–B. S OTOMAYOR , J., filed a dissent

ing opinion._________________

_________________ 1 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Opinion of the Court

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash

ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other form al errors, in order that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 20–1088

DAVID CARSON, AS PARENT AND NEXT FRIEND OF O. C.,
ET AL ., PETITIONERS v. A. PENDER MAKIN

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
[June 21, 2022]

C HIEF J USTICE R OBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court. Maine has enacted a program of tuition assistance for parents who live in school districts that do not operate a secondary school of their own. Under the program, parents designate the secondary school they would like their child to attend—public or private—and the school district trans

mits payments to that school to help defray the costs of tu

ition. Most private schools are eligible to receive the pay

ments, so long as they are “nonsectarian.” The question presented is whether this restriction violates the Free Ex

ercise Clause of the First Amendment.

I A Maine’s Constitution provides that the State’s legislature shall “require . . . the several towns to make suitable provi

sion, at their own expense, for the support and maintenance of public schools.” Me. Const., Art. VIII, pt. 1, §1. In ac

cordance with that command, the legislature has required that every school-age child in Maine “shall be provided an2 CARSON v. MAKIN

Opinion of the Court opportunity to receive the benefits of a free public educa

tion,” Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §2(1) (2008), and that the required schools be operated by “the legislative and gov

erning bodies of local school administrative units,” §2(2). But Maine is the most rural State in the Union, and for many school districts the rea lities of remote geography and low population density make those commands difficult to heed. Indeed, of Maine’s 260 school administrative units (SAUs), fewer than half operate a public secondary school of their own. App. 4, 70, 73. Maine has sought to deal with this problem in part by creating a program of tuition assistance for families that reside in such areas. Under that program, if an SAU nei

ther operates its own public secondary school nor contracts with a particular public or private school for the education of its school-age children, the SAU must “pay the tuition . . . at the public school or the ap proved private school of the parent’s choice at which the st udent is accepted.” Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §5204(4) (Cum. Supp. 2021). Parents who wish to take advantage of this benefit first select the school they wish their child to attend. Ibid. If they select a private school that has been “approved” by the Maine De

partment of Education, the parents’ SAU “shall pay the tu

ition” at the chosen school up to a specified maximum rate. See §§2902, 2951, 5204(4). To be “approved” to receive these payments, a private school must meet certain basic requirements under Maine’s compulsory education law. §2951(1). The school must ei

ther be “[c]urrently accredi ted by a New England associa

tion of schools and colleges” or separately “approv[ed] for attendance purposes” by the Department. §§2901(2), 2902. Schools seeking approval from the Department must meet specified curricular requirements, such as using English as the language of instruction, offering a course in “Maine his

tory, including the Constitution of Maine . . . and Maine’s cultural and ethnic heritage,” and maintaining a student

-3 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Opinion of the Court teacher ratio of not more than 30 to 1. §§2902(2), 2902(3), 4706(2), 2902(6)(C). The program imposes no geog raphic limitation: Parents may direct tuition payments to schools inside or outside the State, or even in foreign countries. §§2951(3), 5808. In schools that qualify for the program because they are ac

credited, teachers need not be certified by the State, §13003(3), and Maine’s curricular requirements do not ap

ply, §2901(2). Single-sex schools are eligible. See Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 5, §4553(2–A) (exempting single-sex pri

vate, but not public, schools from Maine’s antidiscrimina

tion law). Prior to 1981, parents could also direct the tuition assis

tance payments to religious schools. Indeed, in the 1979– 1980 school year, over 200 Maine students opted to attend such schools through the tuition assistance program. App. 72. In 1981, however, Maine imposed a new requirement that any school receiving tuition assistance payments must be “a nonsectarian school in accordance with the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.” Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §2951(2). That provision was enacted in response to an opinion by the Maine attorney general taking the position that public funding of private religious schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. We subsequently held, however, that a bene

fit program under which private citizens “direct govern

ment aid to religious schools wholly as a result of their own genuine and independent privat e choice” does not offend the Establishment Clause. Zelman v. Simmons-Harris , 536 U. S. 639, 652 (2002). Following our decision in Zelman

, the Maine Legislature considered a proposed bill to repeal the “nonsectarian” requirement, but rejected it. App. 100, 108. The “nonsectarian” requirement for participation in Maine’s tuition assistance program remains in effect today.4 CARSON v. MAKIN

Opinion of the Court
The Department has stated that, in administering this re

quirement, it “considers a sectarian school to be one that is associated with a particular faith or belief system and which, in addition to teaching academic subjects, promotes the faith or belief system with which it is associated and/or presents the material taught through the lens of this faith.” 979 F. 3d 21, 38 (CA1 2020). “The Department’s focus is on what the school teaches through its curriculum and related activities, and how the material is presented.” Ibid. (em

phasis deleted). “[A]ffiliation or association with a church or religious institution is one potential indicator of a sec

tarian school,” but “it is not dispositive.” Ibid

. B
This case concerns two families that live in SAUs that neither maintain their own secondary schools nor contract with any nearby secondary school. App. 70, 71. Petitioners David and Amy Carson reside in Glenburn, Maine. Id. , at 74. When this litigation commenced, the Carsons’ daughter attended high school at Bangor Christian Schools (BCS), which was founded in 1970 as a ministry of Bangor Baptist Church. Id. , at 74, 80. The Carsons sent their daughter to BCS because of the school’s high academic standards and because the school’s Christian worldview aligns with their sincerely held religious beliefs. Id. , at 74. Given that BCS is a “sectarian” school that cannot qualify for tuition assis

tance payments under Maine’s program, id. , at 80, the Carsons paid the tuition for their daughter to attend BCS themselves, id. , at 74. Petitioners Troy and Angela Nelson live in Palermo, Maine. Id. , at 78. When this litigation commenced, the Nelsons’ daughter attended hi gh school at Erskine Acad

emy, a secular private school, and their son attended mid

dle school at Temple Academy, a “sectarian” school affili

ated with Centerpoint Community Church. Id. , at 78, 90, 91. The Nelsons sent their son to Temple Academy because5 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Opinion of the Court they believed it offered him a high-quality education that aligned with their sincerely held religious beliefs. Id. , at 78. While they wished to send their daughter to Temple Academy too, they could not afford to pay the cost of the Academy’s tuition for both of their children. Id. , at 79. BCS and Temple Academy are both accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), and the Department considers each school a “private school approved for attendance purposes” under the State’s com

pulsory attendance requirement. Id. , at 80, 90. Yet because neither school qualifies as “nonsectarian,” neither is eligible to receive tuition payments under Maine’s tuition assis

tance program. Id. , at 80, 90. Absent the “nonsectarian” requirement, the Carsons and the Nelsons would have asked their respective SAUs to pay the tuition to send their children to BCS and Temple Academy, respectively. Id. , at 79. In 2018, petitioners brought suit against the commis

sioner of the Maine Department of Education. Id. , at 11– 12. They alleged that the “nonsectarian” requirement of Maine’s tuition assistance pr ogram violated the Free Exer

cise Clause and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, id. , at 23–27, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, id. , at 29–30. Their complaint sought declaratory and injunctive relief against enforcement of the requirement. Id. , at 31–32. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on a stipulated record. 401 F. Supp. 3d 207, 208 (Me. 2019). Applying Cir

cuit precedent that had previously upheld the “nonsec

tarian” requirement against challenge, see Eulitt v. Maine Dept. of Ed. , 386 F. 3d 344 (CA1 2004), the District Court rejected petitioners’ constituti onal claims and granted judg

ment to the commissioner. 401 F. Supp. 3d, at 209–212. While petitioners’ appeal to the First Circuit was pend

ing, this Court decided Espinoza v. Montana Department of6 CARSON v. MAKIN

Opinion of the Court

Revenue , 591 U. S. ___ (2020). Espinoza held that a provi

sion of the Montana Constitution barring government aid to any school “controlled in whole or in part by any church, sect, or denomination,” Art. X, §6(1), violated the Free Ex

ercise Clause by prohibiting families from using otherwise available scholarship funds at the religious schools of their choosing. The First Circuit recognized that, in light of Es

pinoza , its prior precedent upholding Maine’s “nonsec

tarian” requirement was no longer controlling. 979 F. 3d, at 32–36. But it nevertheless affirmed the District Court’s grant of judgment to the commissioner. Id., at 49. As relevant here, the First Circuit offered two grounds to distinguish Maine’s “nonsectarian” requirement from the no-aid provision at issue in Espinoza . First, the panel rea

soned that, whereas Montana had barred schools from re

ceiving funding “simply based on their religious identity— a status that in and of itself does not determine how a school would use the funds”—Maine bars BCS and Temple Acad

emy from receiving funding “based on the religious use that they would make of it in instructing children.” 979 F. 3d

, at 40. Second, the panel determined that Maine’s tuition assistance program was distinct from the scholarships at issue in Espinoza because Maine had sought to provide “a rough equivalent of the public school education that Maine may permissibly require to be secular but that is not other

wise accessible.” 979 F. 3d

, at 44. Thus, “the nature of the restriction at issue and the nature of the school aid program of which it is a key part” led the panel to conclude “once again” that Maine’s “nonsectarian” requirement did not vi

olate the Free Exercise Clause. Id., at 46. We granted certiorari. 594 U. S. ___ (2021).

II A The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment pro

-7 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Opinion of the Court tects against “indirect coercion or penalties on the free ex

ercise of religion, not just outright prohibitions.” Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Assn. , 485 U. S. 439, 450 (1988). In particular, we have repeatedly held that a State violates the Free Exercise Clause when it excludes religious observers from othe rwise available public bene

fits. See Sherbert v. Verner , 374 U. S. 398, 404 (1963) (“It is too late in the day to doubt that the liberties of religion and expression may be infringed by the denial of or placing of conditions upon a benefit or privilege.”); see also Everson

v. Board of Ed. of Ewing , 330 U. S. 1, 16 (1947) (a State “cannot exclude” individuals “ because of their faith, or lack of it , from receiving the benefits of public welfare legisla

tion”). A State may not withhold unemployment benefits, for instance, on the ground that an individual lost his job for refusing to abandon the dictates of his faith. See Sher

bert , 374 U. S., at 399–402 (Seventh-day Adventist who re

fused to work on the Sabbath); Thomas v. Review Bd. of Ind. Employment Security Div. , 450 U. S. 707, 709, 720 (1981) (Jehovah’s Witness who refused to participate in the pro

duction of armaments). We have recently applied these principles in the context of two state efforts to withho ld otherwise available public benefits from religious organizations. In Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer , 582 U. S. ___ (2017), we considered a Missouri program that offered grants to qual

ifying nonprofit organizations that installed cushioning playground surfaces made from recycled rubber tires. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources maintained an express policy of denying such grants to any applicant owned or controlled by a church , sect, or other religious en

tity. The Trinity Lutheran Church Child Learning Center applied for a grant to resurface its gravel playground, but the Department denied funding on the ground that the Cen

ter was operated by the Church.8 CARSON v. MAKIN

Opinion of the Court We deemed it “unremarkable in light of our prior deci

sions” to conclude that the Free Exercise Clause did not per

mit Missouri to “expressly discriminate[ ] against otherwise eligible recipients by disqualif ying them from a public ben

efit solely because of th eir religious character.” Id. , at ___– ___ (slip op., at 9–10). While it was true that Trinity Lu

theran remained “free to continue operating as a church,” it could enjoy that freedom only “at the cost of automatic and absolute exclusion from the benefits of a public program for which the Center [was] otherwise fully qualified.” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 10) (citing McDaniel v. Paty , 435 U. S. 618, 626 (1978) (plurality opinion)). Such discrimination, we said, was “odious to our Constitution” and could not stand. 582 U. S.

, at ___ (slip op., at 15). Two Terms ago, in Espinoza , we reached the same con

clusion as to a Montana progra m that provided tax credits to donors who sponsored schola rships for private school tu

ition. The Montana Supreme Court held that the program, to the extent it included relig ious schools, violated a provi

sion of the Montana Constitution that barred government aid to any school controlled in whole or in part by a church, sect, or denomination. As a result of that holding, the State terminated the scholarship program, preventing the peti

tioners from accessing scholarship funds they otherwise would have used to fund their children’s educations at reli

gious schools. We again held that the Free Exercise Clause forbade the State’s action. The application of the Montana Constitu

tion’s no-aid provision, we explained, required strict scru

tiny because it “bar[red] religio us schools from public bene

fits solely because of the religio us character of the schools.” Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 9). “A State need not subsidize private education,” we concluded, “[b]ut once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 20).9 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Opinion of the Court

B The “unremarkable” principles applied in Trinity Lu

theran and Espinoza suffice to resolve this case. Maine of

fers its citizens a benefit: tuition assistance payments for any family whose school district does not provide a public secondary school. Just like the wide range of nonprofit or

ganizations eligible to receive playground resurfacing grants in Trinity Lutheran , a wide range of private schools are eligible to receive Maine tuition assistance payments here. And like the daycare center in Trinity Lutheran , BCS and Temple Academy are disqualified from this generally available benefit “solely becaus e of their religious charac

ter.” 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 10). By “condition[ing] the availability of benefits” in that manner, Maine’s tuition assistance program—like the program in Trinity Lu

theran —“effectively penalizes the fr ee exercise” of religion. Ibid. (quoting McDaniel , 435 U. S., at 626 (plurality opin

ion)). Our recent decision in Espinoza applied these basic prin

ciples in the context of religious education that we consider today. There, as here, we considered a state benefit pro

gram under which public funds flowed to support tuition payments at private schools. And there, as here, that pro

gram specifically carved out private religious schools from those eligible to receive such funds. While the wording of the Montana and Maine provisions is different, their effect is the same: to “disqualify some private schools” from fund

ing “solely because they are religious.” 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 20). A law that operates in that manner, we held in Espinoza , must be subjected to “the strictest scru

tiny.” Id. , at ___–___ (slip op., at 11–12). To satisfy strict scrutiny, government action “must ad

vance ‘interests of the highes t order’ and must be narrowly tailored in pursuit of those interests.” Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah , 508 U. S. 520, 546 (1993) (quot

ing McDaniel , 435 U. S., at 628 (plurality opinion)). “A law10 CARSON v. MAKIN

Opinion of the Court that targets religious conduct for distinctive treatment . . . will survive strict scrutiny only in rare cases.” 508 U. S., at 546. This is not one of them. As noted, a neutral benefit pro

gram in which public funds flow to religious organizations through the independent choices of private benefit recipi

ents does not offend the Establishment Clause. See Zel

man , 536 U. S., at 652–653. Maine’s decision to continue excluding religious schools fr om its tuition assistance pro

gram after Zelman thus promotes stricter separation of church and state than the Federal Constitution requires. See also post, at 4 (B REYER , J., dissenting) (States may choose “not to fund certain religious activity . . . even when the Establishment Clause does not itself prohibit the State from funding that activity”); post, at 1 (S OTOMAYOR , J., dis

senting) (same point). But as we explained in both Trinity Lutheran and Espi

noza , such an “interest in separating church and state ‘more fiercely’ than the Federal Constitution . . . ‘cannot qualify as compelling’ in the face of the infringement of free exer

cise.” Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 18) (quoting Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 14)); see also Widmar v. Vincent , 454 U. S. 263, 276 (1981) (“[T]he state interest . . . in achieving greater separation of church and State than is already ensured under the Establishment Clause . . . is limited by the Free Exercise Clause.”). J USTICE B REYER stresses the importance of “government neutrality” when it comes to religious matters, post , at 13, but there is nothing neutral about Maine’s program. The State pays tuition for certain students at private schools— so long as the schools are not religious. That is discrimina

tion against religion. A State’s antiestablishment interest does not justify enactments that exclude some members of11 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Opinion of the Court the community from an otherwise generally available pub

lic benefit because of th eir religious exercise.*

III The First Circuit attempted to distinguish our precedent by recharacterizing the nature of Maine’s tuition assistance program in two ways, both of which Maine echoes before this Court. First, the panel defined the benefit at issue as the “rough equivalent of [a Main e] public school education,” an education that cannot include sectarian instruction. 979 F. 3d, at 44; see also Brief for Respondent 22. Second, the panel defined the nature of the exclusion as one based not on a school’s religious “status,” as in Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza , but on religious “uses” of public funds. 979 F. 3d, at 38–40; see also Brief for Respondent 35. Neither of these formal distinctions suffices to distinguish this case from Trinity Lutheran or Espinoza , or to affect the application of the free exercise principles outlined above.

A The First Circuit held that the “nonsectarian” require

ment was constitutional bec ause the benefit was properly viewed not as tuition assistance payments to be used at ap

proved private schools, but instead as funding for the “rough equivalent of the public school education that Maine may permissibly require to be secular.” 979 F. 3d, at 44. As Maine puts it, “[t]he public benefit Maine is offering is a free public education.” Brief for Respondent 1–2. To start with, the statute does not say anything like that. It says that an SAU without a secondary school of its own

——————

*Both dissents articulate a number of other reasons not to extend the tuition assistance program to BCS and Temple Academy, based on the schools’ particular po licies and practices. Post, at 15–16 (opinion of B REYER , J.); post, at 4 (opinion of S OTOMAYOR , J.). Maine rightly does not attempt to defend its law on such grounds, however, because the law rig

idly excludes any and all sectarian sc hools regardless of particular char

acteristics. See supra, at 3.12 CARSON v. MAKIN

Opinion of the Court “shall pay the tuition . . . at the public school or the ap

proved private school of the parent’s choice at which the student is accepted.” Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §5204(4). The benefit is tuition at a public or private school, selected by the parent, with no suggestion that the “private school” must somehow provide a “public” education. This reading of the statute is confirmed by the program’s operation. The differences be tween private schools eligible to receive tuition assistance under Maine’s program and a Maine public school are numerous and important. To start with the most obvious, private schools are different by def

inition because they do not have to accept all students. Pub

lic schools generally do. Seco nd, the free public education that Maine insists it is providing through the tuition assis

tance program is often not free. That “assistance” is avail

able at private schools that charge several times the maxi

mum benefit that Maine is willing to provide. See Stipulated Record, Exh. 2, in No. 1:18–cv–327 (Me., Mar. 12, 2019), ECF Doc. 24–2, p. 11; Brief for Respondent 32.

Moreover, the curriculum taught at participating private schools need not even resemble that taught in the Maine public schools. For example, Maine public schools must abide by certain “parameters for essential instruction in English language arts; mathem atics; science and technol

ogy; social studies; career and education development; vis

ual and performing arts; health, physical education andwellness; and world languages.” §6209. But NEASCaccredited private schools are exempt from these require

ments, and instead subject only to general “standards and indicators” governing the impl ementation of their own cho

sen curriculum. Brief for Respondent 32; see NEASC, Standards—20/20 Process (rev. Aug. 2021), https://cis. neasc.org/standards2020 (requiring, for instance, that “[c]urriculum planning supports the school’s core beliefs and the needs of the students,” and that the “[w]ritten cur

riculum aligns horizontally and vertically”).13 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Opinion of the Court
Private schools approved by the Department (rather than accredited by NEASC) are likewise exempt from many of the State’s curricular requirements, so long as fewer than 60% of their students receiv e tuition assistance from the State. For instance, such schools need not abide by Maine’s “comprehensive, statewide system of learning results,” in

cluding the “parameters for essential instruction” refer

enced above, and they need not administer the annual state assessments in English language arts, mathematics, and science. §§2951(6), 6209; see also ECF Doc. 24–2, at 9. There are other distinctions, too. Participating schools need not hire state-certified teachers. Compare Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §13003(1), with §13003(3). And the schools can be single-sex. See ECF Doc. 24–2, at 11. In short, it is simply not the case that these schools, to be eli

gible for state funds, must offer an education that is equiv

alent—roughly or otherwise—to that available in the Maine public schools. But the key manner in which the two educational experi

ences are required to be “equivalent” is that they must both be secular. Saying that Maine offers a benefit limited to private secular education is just another way of saying that Maine does not extend tuition assistance payments to par

ents who choose to educate their children at religious schools. But “the definition of a particular program can al

ways be manipulated to subsume the challenged condition,” and to allow States to “recast a condition on funding” in this manner would be to see “the First Amendment . . . reduced to a simple semantic exercise.” Agency for Int’l Development

v. Alliance for Open Society Int’l, Inc. , 570 U. S. 205, 215 (2013) (quoting Legal Services Corporation v. Velazquez

, 531 U. S. 533, 547 (2001)); see also Walz v. Tax Comm’n of City of New York , 397 U. S. 664, 696 (1970) (Harlan, J., con

curring) (“The Court must survey meticulously the circum

stances of governmental categori es to eliminate, as it were, religious gerrymanders.”). Maine’s formulation does not14 CARSON v. MAKIN

Opinion of the Court
answer the question in this case; it simply restates it. Indeed, were we to accept Maine’s argument, our decision in Espinoza would be rendered essentially meaningless. By Maine’s logic, Montana could have obtained the same result that we held violated the First Amendment simply by rede

fining its tax credit for sponsors of generally available schol

arships as limited to “tuition payments for the rough equiv

alent of a Montana public education”—meaning a secular education. But our holding in Espinoza turned on the sub

stance of free exercise protections, not on the presence or absence of magic words. That holding applies fully whether the prohibited discrimination is in an express provision like §2951(2) or in a party’s reconceptualization of the public benefit. Maine may provide a strictly secular education in its pub

lic schools. But BCS and Temple Academy—like numerous other recipients of Maine tuition assistance payments—are not public schools. In order to provide an education to chil

dren who live in certain parts of its far-flung State, Maine has decided not to operate schools of its own, but instead to offer tuition assistance that parents may direct to the public or private schools of their choice. Maine’s administration of that benefit is subject to the free exercise principles govern

ing any such public benefit program—including the prohi

bition on denying the benefit based on a recipient’s religious exercise. The dissents are wrong to say that under our decision to

day Maine “ must ” fund religious education. Post, at 7 (B REYER , J., dissenting). Maine chose to allow some par

ents to direct state tuition payments to private schools; that decision was not “forced upon” it. Post, at 4 (S OTOMAYOR , J., dissenting). The State retains a number of options: it could expand the reach of its public school system, increase the availability of transportation, provide some combina

tion of tutoring, remote learning, and partial attendance, or15 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Opinion of the Court even operate boarding schools of its own. As we held in Es

pinoza , a “State need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so , it cannot disqualify some pri

vate schools solely because they are religious.” 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 20).

B The Court of Appeals also attempted to distinguish this case from Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza on the ground that the funding restrictions in those cases were “solely sta

tus-based religious discrimination,” while the challenged provision here “imposes a use-based restriction.” 979 F. 3d, at 35, 37–38. J USTICE B REYER makes the same argument. Post, at 8–9, 13–14 (dissenting opinion). In Trinity Lutheran , the Missouri Constitution banned the use of public funds in aid of “any church, sect or denom

ination of religion.” 582 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 2–3). We noted that the case invo lved “express discrimination based on religious identity,” which was sufficient unto the day in deciding it, and that our opinion did “not address re

ligious uses of funding.” Id. , at ___, n. 3 (plurality opinion) (slip op., at 14, n. 3). So too in Espinoza , the discrimination at issue was de

scribed by the Montana Supreme Court as a prohibition on aiding “schools controlled by churches,” and we analyzed the issue in terms of “religious status and not religious use.” 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 10). Foreshadowing Maine’s argument here, Montana argued that its case was different from Trinity Lutheran’s because it involved not playground resurfacing, but general funds that “could be used for reli

gious ends by some recipients , particularly schools that be

lieve faith should ‘ permeate [ ]’ everything they do.” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 11). We explained, however, that the strict scrutiny triggered by status- based discrimination could not be avoided by arguing that “one of its goals or effects [was]16 CARSON v. MAKIN

Opinion of the Court preventing religious organizations from putting aid to reli

gious uses .” Ibid. (emphasis added). And we noted that nothing in our analysis was “meant to suggest that we agree[d] with [Montana] that some lesser degree of scrutiny applies to discrimination against religious uses of govern

ment aid.” Id., at ___ (slip op., at 12). Maine’s argument, however—along with the decision be

low and J USTICE B REYER ’s dissent—is premised on pre

cisely such a distinction. See Brief for Respondent 44 (“Maine has not broadly excluded private schools simply be

cause they are affiliated with or controlled by a religious organization. Rather, a school is excluded only if it pro

motes a particular faith and presents academic material through the lens of that faith.”); 979 F. 3d, at 40 (Maine pro

vision “does not bar schools from receiving funding simply based on their religious identity” but instead “based on the religious use that they would ma ke of it in instructing chil

dren.”); post , at 9 (B REYER , J., dissenting) (“[U]nlike the cir

cumstances present in Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza , it is religious activity, not religious labels, that lies at the heart of this case.”). That premise, however, misreads our precedents. In Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza , we held that the Free Ex

ercise Clause forbids discrimination on the basis of religious status. But those decisions never suggested that use-based discrimination is any less offensive to the Free Exercise Clause. This case illustrates why. “[E]ducating young peo

ple in their faith, inculcatin g its teachings, and training them to live their faith are responsibilities that lie at the very core of the mission of a private religious school.” Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru , 591 U. S. ___, ___ (2020) (slip op., at 18); see also Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC , 565 U. S. 171, 192 (2012). Any attempt to give effect to such a distinction by scruti

-17 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

Opinion of the Court
nizing whether and how a religious school pursues its edu

cational mission would also raise serious concerns about state entanglement with religion and denominational fa

voritism. See Our Lady , 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 26); Larson v. Valente , 456 U. S. 228, 244 (1982). Indeed, Maine concedes that the Department barely engages in any such scrutiny when enforcing the “nonsectarian” requirement. See Brief for Respondent 5 (asserting that there will be no need to probe private schools’ uses of tuition assistance funds because “schools self-identify as nonsectarian” under the program and the need for any further questioning is “extremely rare”). That suggests that any status-use dis

tinction lacks a meaningful application not only in theory,but in practice as well. In short, the prohibition on statusbased discrimination under the Free Exercise Clause is not a permission to engage in use-based discrimination. Maine and the dissents invoke Locke v. Davey , 540 U. S. 712 (2004), in support of the argument that the State may preclude parents from designating a religious school to re

ceive tuition assistance payments. In that case, Washing

ton had established a scholarship fund to assist academi

cally gifted students with postsecondary education expenses. But the program excluded one particular use of the scholarship funds: the “e ssentially religious endeavor” of pursuing a degree designed to “train[ ] a minister to lead a congregation.” Id., at 721; Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 13). We upheld that restriction against a free exer

cise challenge, reasoning that the State had “merely chosen not to fund a distinct category of instruction.” Locke, 540 U. S., at 721. Our opinions in Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza , however, have already explained why Locke can be of no help to Maine here. Both precedents emphasized, as did Locke it

self, that the funding in Locke was intended to be used “to prepare for the ministry.” Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12); see also Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___ (slip18 CARSON v. MAKIN

Opinion of the Court op., at 13); Locke , 540 U. S., at 725. Funds could be and were used for theology courses; only pursuing a “vocational religious” degree was excluded. Ibid. ; see also Trinity Lu

theran , 582 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 12–13) (explaining narrow reach of Locke ); Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 13–14) (same). Locke ’s reasoning expressly turned on what it identified as the “historic and substantial state interest” against us

ing “taxpayer funds to support church leaders.” 540 U. S., at 722, 725. But as we explained at length in Espinoza , “it is clear that there is no ‘historic and substantial’ tradition against aiding [private religious] schools comparable to the tradition against state-supported clergy invoked by Locke .” 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 16). Locke cannot be read be

yond its narrow focus on vocati onal religious degrees to gen

erally authorize the State to exclude religious persons from the enjoyment of public benefits on the basis of their antic

ipated religious use of the benefits.

* * * Maine’s “nonsectarian” requirement for its otherwise generally available tuition assistance payments violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Regard

less of how the benefit and re striction are described, the program operates to identify and exclude otherwise eligible schools on the basis of their religious exercise. The judg

ment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opin

ion. It is so ordered._________________

_________________ 1 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

B REYER , J., dissenting 

## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 20–1088

DAVID CARSON, AS PARENT AND NEXT FRIEND OF O. C.,
ET AL ., PETITIONERS v. A. PENDER MAKIN

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
[June 21, 2022]

J USTICE B REYER , with whom J USTICE K AGAN joins, and with whom J USTICE S OTOMAYOR joins except as to Part I– B, dissenting. The First Amendment begins by forbidding the govern

ment from “mak[ing] [any] law respecting an establishment of religion.” It next forbids them to make any law “prohib

iting the free exercise thereof.” The Court today pays al

most no attention to the words in the first Clause while giv

ing almost exclusive attention to the words in the second. The majority also fails to recognize the “ ‘play in the joints’ ” between the two Clauses. See Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia

, Inc. v . Comer , 582 U. S. ___, ___ (2017) (slip op., at 6). That “play” gives States some degree of legislative leeway. It sometimes allows a State to further antiestab

lishment interests by withholding aid from religious insti

tutions without violating the Co nstitution’s protections for the free exercise of religion. In my view, Maine’s nonsec

tarian requirement falls squarely within the scope of that constitutional leeway. I respectfully dissent.

I A The First Amendment’s two Religion Clauses together provide that the government “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise2 CARSON v. MAKIN

B REYER , J., dissenting thereof.” Each Clause, linguistically speaking, is “cast in absolute terms.” Walz v. Tax Comm’n of City of New York

, 397 U. S. 664, 668 (1970). The first Clause, the Establish

ment Clause, seems to bar all government “sponsorship, fi

nancial support, [or] active involvement . . . in religious ac

tivity,” while the second Claus e, the Free Exercise Clause, seems to bar all “governmental restraint on religious prac

tice.” Id. , at 668, 670. The apparently absolutist nature of these two prohibitions means that either Clause, “if ex

panded to a logical extreme, wo uld tend to clash with the other.” Id. , at 668–669. Because of this, we have said, the two Clauses “are frequently in tension,” Locke v. Davey

, 540 U. S. 712, 718 (2004), and “often exert conflicting pres

sures” on government action, Cutter v. Wilkinson , 544 U. S. 709, 719 (2005). On the one hand, the Free Exercise Clause “ ‘protect[s] religious observers against unequal treatment.’ ” Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 6) (quoting Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye

, Inc. v. Hialeah , 508 U. S. 520, 542 (1993); alteration in original). We have said that, in the education context, this means that States generally cannot “ba[r] religious schools from p ublic benefits solely because of the religious character of the schools.” Espinoza v. Mon

tana Dept. of Revenue , 591 U. S. ___, ___ (2020) (slip op., at 9); see Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___–___ (slip op., at 9–10). On the other hand, the Establishment Clause “commands a separation of church and state.” Cutter , 544 U. S., at 719. A State cannot act to “aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another.” Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing , 330 U. S. 1, 15 (1947). This means that a State cannot use “its public school system to aid any or all reli

gious faiths or sects in the dissemination of their doctrines and ideals.” Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Ed. of School Dist. No. 71

, Champaign Cty. , 333 U. S. 203, 211 (1948). Nor may a State “adopt programs or practices in its3 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

B REYER , J., dissenting public schools . . . which ‘aid or oppose’ any religion.” Ep

person v. Arkansas , 393 U. S. 97, 106 (1968). “This prohibi

tion,” we have cautioned, “is absolute.” Ibid. See, e.g. , McCollum , 333 U. S. 203 (no weekly religious teachings in public schools); Engel v. Vitale , 370 U. S. 421 (1962) (no prayers in public schools); School Dist. of Abington Town

ship v. Schempp , 374 U. S. 203 (1963) (no Bible readings in public schools); Epperson , 393 U. S. 97 (no religiously tai

lored curriculum in public schools); Wallace v. Jaffree , 472 U. S. 38 (1985) (no period of silence for meditation or prayer in public schools); Lee v. Weisman , 505 U. S. 577 (1992) (no prayers during public school graduations); Santa Fe Inde

pendent School Dist. v. Doe , 530 U. S. 290 (2000) (no pray

ers during public school football games). Although the Religion Clauses are, in practice, often in tension, they nonetheless “exp ress complementary values.” Cutter , 544 U. S., at 719. Together they attempt to chart a “course of constitutional neutra lity” with respect to govern

ment and religion. Walz , 397 U. S., at 669. They were writ

ten to help create an American Nation free of the religious conflict that had long plagued European nations with “gov

ernmentally established religion[s].” Engel , 370 U. S., at 431. Through the Clauses, the Framers sought to avoid the “anguish, hardship and bitter stri fe” that resulted from the “union of Church and State” in those countries. Id.

, at 429; see also Committee for Public Ed. & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist , 413 U. S. 756, 795–796 (1973). The Religion Clauses thus created a compromise in the form of religious freedom. They aspired to create a “benev

olent neutrality”—one which would “permit religious exer

cise to exist without sponsorshi p and without interference.” Walz , 397 U. S., at 669. “[T]he basic purpose of these pro

visions” was “to insure that no religion be sponsored or fa

vored, none commanded, and none inhibited.” Ibid. This religious freedom in effect meant that people “were entitled4 CARSON v. MAKIN

B REYER , J., dissenting to worship God in their own way and to teach their chil

dren” in that way. C. Radcliffe, The Law & Its Compass 71 (1960). We have historically interpreted the Religion Clauses with these basic principles in mind. See, e.g. , Nyquist , 413 U. S., at 771–772, 794–796; Walz , 397 U. S., at 668–670; Engel , 370 U. S., at 429–432. And in applying these Clauses, we have often said that “there is room for play in the joints” between them. Walz

, 397 U. S., at 669; see, e.g. , Norwood v. Harrison , 413 U. S. 455, 469 (1973); Cutter , 544 U. S., at 719; Locke , 540 U. S., at 718–719; Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 6); Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 6). This doctrine reflects the fact that it may be difficult to determine in any particular case whether the Free Exercise Clause requires a State to fund the activities of a religious institution, or whether the Establishment Clause prohibits the State from doing so. Rather than attempting to draw a highly reticu

lated and complex free-exercise/establishment line thatvaries based on the specific circumstances of each statefunded program, we have provided general interpretive principles that apply uniformly in all Religion Clause cases. At the same time, we have made clear that States enjoy a degree of freedom to navigate the Clauses’ competing pro

hibitions. See, e.g. , Cutter , 544 U. S., at 713, 719–720. This includes choosing not to fund certain religious activity where States have strong, establishment-related reasons for not doing so. See, e.g. , Locke , 540 U. S., at 719–722. And, States have freedom to make this choice even when the Establishment Clause does not itself prohibit the State from funding that activity. Id. , at 719 (“[T]here are some state actions permitted by the Establishment Clause but not required by the Free Exercise Clause”). The Court to

day nowhere mentions, and I fear effectively abandons, this longstanding doctrine.5 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

B REYER , J., dissenting

B I have previously discussed my views of the relationship between the Religion Clauses and how I believe these Clauses should be interpreted to advance their goal of avoiding religious strife. See, e.g. , Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___–___ (dissenting opinion) (slip op., at 13–20); Van Orden

v. Perry , 545 U. S. 677, 698–705 (2005) (opinion concurring in judgment); Zelman v. Simmons-Harris , 536 U. S. 639, 717–729 (2002) (dissenting opinion). Here I simply note the increased risk of religiously based social conflict when gov

ernment promotes religion in its public school system. “[T]he prescription of prayer and Bible reading in the public schools, during and as part of the curricular day, involving young impressionable children whose school attendance is statutorily compelled,” can “give rise to those very divisive influences and inhibitions of freedom which both religion clauses of the First Amendment” sought to prevent. Schempp , 374 U. S., at 307 (Goldberg, J., concurring). This potential for religious strife is still with us. We are today a Nation with well over 100 different religious groups, from Free Will Baptist to African Methodist, Bud

dhist to Humanist. See Pew Research Center, America’s Changing Religious Landscape 21 (May 12, 2015). People in our country adhere to a vast array of beliefs, ideals, and philosophies. And with greater religious diversity comes greater risk of religiously based strife, conflict, and social division. The Religion Clauses were written in part to help avoid that disunion. As Thomas Jefferson, one of the lead

ing drafters and proponents of those Clauses, wrote, “ ‘to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical.’ ” Everson , 330 U. S., at 13. And as James Mad

ison, another drafter and proponent, said, compelled tax

payer sponsorship of religion “is itself a signal of persecu

tion,” which “will destroy that moderation and harmony6 CARSON v. MAKIN

B REYER , J., dissenting

which the forbearance of our laws to intermeddle with Re

ligion, has produced amongst its several sects.” Id. , at 68– 69 (appendix to dissenting opinion of Rutledge, J.). To in

terpret the Clauses with these concerns in mind may help to further their original purpose of avoiding religious-based division. I have also previously explained why I believe that a “rigid, bright-line” approach to the Religion Clauses—an approach without any leeway or “play in the joints”—will too often work against the Clauses’ underlying purposes. Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___ (dissenting opinion) (slip op., at 18); see also Van Orden , 545 U. S., at 669–700 (opinion con

curring in judgment). “[G]overnment benefits come in many shapes and sizes.” Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 16) (dissenting opinion). Not all state-funded pro

grams that have religious restrictions carry the same risk of creating social division and conflict. In my view, that risk can best be understood by cons idering the particular benefit at issue, along with the reas ons for the particular religious restriction at issue. See ibid. ; Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 1) (B REYER , J., concurring in judgment). Recognition that States enjoy a degree of constitutional lee

way allows States to enact laws sensitive to local circum

stances while also allowing this Court to consider those cir

cumstances in light of the basic values underlying the Religion Clauses. In a word, to interpret the two Clauses as if they were joined at the hip will work against their basic purpose: to allow for an American society with practitioners of over 100 different religions, and those wh o do not practice religion at all, to live together without serious risk of religion-based social divisions.

II The majority believes that the principles set forth in this Court’s earlier cases easily reso lve this case. But they do7 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

B REYER , J., dissenting

not. We have previously found, as the majority points out, that “a neutral benefit program in which public funds flow to religious organizations through the independent choices of private benefit recipients does not offend the Establish

ment Clause.” Ante , at 10 (citing Zelman , 536 U. S., at 652– 653). We have thus concluded that a State may , consistent with the Establishment Clause, provide funding to religious schools through a general public funding program if the “government aid . . . reach[es] re ligious institutions only by way of the deliberate choices of . . . individual [aid] recipi

ents.” Id. , at 652. But the key word is “may.” We have never previously held what the Court holds today, namely, that a State must (not may ) use state funds to pay for religious education as part of a tuition program designed to ensure the provision of free statewide public school education. What happens once “may” becomes “must”? Does that transformation mean that a sc hool district that pays for public schools must pay equivalent funds to parents who wish to send their children to religious schools? Does it mean that school districts that give vouchers for use at charter schools must pay equivalent funds to parents who wish to give their children a religious education? What other social benefits are there the State’s provision of which means—under the majority’s interpretation of the Free Ex

ercise Clause—that the State must pay parents for the re

ligious equivalent of the secu lar benefit provided? The con

cept of “play in the joints” means that courts need not, and should not, answer with “must” these questions that can more appropriately be answered with “may.” The majority also asserts that “[t]he ‘unremarkable’ prin

ciples applied in Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza suffice to resolve this case.” Ante , at 9. Not so. The state-funded program at issue in Trinity Lutheran provided payment for8 CARSON v. MAKIN

B REYER , J., dissenting resurfacing school playgrounds to make them safer for chil

dren. Any Establishment Clause concerns arising from providing money to religious sc hools for the creation of safer play yards are readily distinguishable from those raised by providing money to religious schools through the program at issue here—a tuition program designed to ensure that all children receive their constituti onally guaranteed right to a free public education. After all, cities and States normally pay for police forces, fire prot ection, paved streets, munici

pal transport, and hosts of other services that benefit churches as well as secular organizations. But paying the salary of a religious teacher as part of a public school tuition program is a different matter. In addition, schools were excluded from the playground resurfacing program at issue in Trinity Lutheran because of the mere fact that they were “owned or controlled by a church, sect, or other religious entity.” 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 2). Schools were thus disqualified from receiv

ing playground funds “solely because of their religious char

acter,” not because of the “religious uses of [the] funding” they would receive. Id. , at ___, ___, n. 3 (slip op., at 10, 14,

n. 3). Here, by contrast, a school’s “ ‘affiliation or associa

tion with a church or religious institution . . . is not dispos

itive’ ” of its ability to receive tuition funds. 979 F. 3d 21, 38 (CA1 2020) (quoting then-commissioner of Maine’s De

partment of Education). Instead, Maine chooses not to fund only those schools that “ ‘promot[e] the faith or belief system with which [the schools are] associated and/or presen[t] the [academic] material taught through the lens of this faith’ ”— i.e.

, schools that will use public money for religious

purposes. Ibid. Maine thus excludes schools from its tui

tion program not because of th e schools’ religious character but because the schools will use the funds to teach and pro

mote religious ideals. For similar reasons, Espinoza does not resolve the pre

sent case. In Espinoza , Montana created “a scholarship9 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

B REYER , J., dissenting program for students attending private schools.” 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 1). But th e State prohibited families from using the scholarship at any private school “ ‘owned or con

trolled in whole or in part by any church, religious sect, or denomination.’ ” Id. , at ___ (slip op., at 3) (quoting Mont. Admin. Rule §42.4.802(1)(a) (2015)). As in Trinity Lu

theran

, Montana denied funds to schools based “expressly on religious status and not religious use”; “[t]o be eligible” for scholarship funds, a school had to “divorce itself from any religious control or affiliation.” 591 U. S. at ___–___ (slip op., at 10–11). Here, again, Maine denies tuition money to schools not because of their religious affiliation, but because they will use stat e funds to promote religious views. These distinctions are important. The very point of the Establishment Clause is to prevent the government from sponsoring religious activity itself, thereby favoring one re

ligion over another or favoring religion over nonreligion. See Engel , 370 U. S., at 430 (“Under [the Establishment Clause] . . . government in this country, be it state or fed

eral, is without power to prescribe by law . . . any program of governmentally sponsored religious activity”); Walz , 397 U. S., at 668 (“[F]or the men who wrote the Religion Clauses . . . the ‘establishment’ of a religion connoted . . . [any] ac

tive involvement of the sovereign in religious activity”); Everson , 330 U. S., at 15 (States may not “pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another”). State funding of religious activity risks the very social conflict based upon religion that the Religion Clauses were designed to prevent. And, unlike the circumstances present in Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza , it is religious ac

tivity, not religious labels, that lies at the heart of this case.

III A I turn now to consider the Maine program at issue here.10 CARSON v. MAKIN

B REYER , J., dissenting Maine’s Constitution guarantees Maine’s children a free public education by requiring t hat all towns provide “for the support and maintenance of public schools.” Art. VIII, pt. 1, §1; see also Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §2(1) (2008). Because of the State’s rural geography and dispersed popu

lation, however, over half of Maine’s school districts do not operate public secondary schools. App. 70. To fulfill its con

stitutional promise, Maine creat ed a program that provides some parents in these districts with a monetary grant to help them educate their children “at the public school or the approved private school of the parent’s choice.” Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §5204(4) (Cum. Supp. 2021). The pro

gram’s “function is limited to authorizing the provision of tuition subsidies to the parents of children who live within school [districts] that simply do not have the resources to operate a public school system, and whose children would otherwise not be given an oppo rtunity to receive a free pub

lic education.” Hallissey v. School Administrative Dist. No. 77 , 2000 ME 143, ¶16, 755 A. 2d 1068, 1073. Under Maine law, an “approved” private school must be “nonsectarian.” §2951(2). A school fails to meet that re

quirement (and is deemed “sectarian”) only if it is both (1)

“ ‘associated with a particular faith or belief system’ ” and also (2) “ ‘promotes the faith or belief system with which it is associated and/or presents the [academic] material taught through the lens of this faith.’ ” 979 F. 3d, at 38 (quoting Maine’s then-education commissioner). To deter

mine whether a school is sectarian, the “ ‘focus is on what the school teaches through its curriculum and related activ

ities, and how the material is presented.’ ” Ibid. (emphasis deleted). “ ‘[A]ffiliation or association with a church or reli

gious institution . . . is not dispositive’ ” of sectarian status. Ibid. The two private religious sc hools at issue here satisfy both of these criteria. They are affiliated with a church or religious organization. See App. 80, 91. And they also teach11 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

B REYER , J., dissenting
students to accept particular re ligious beliefs and to engage in particular religious practices. The first school, Bangor Christian, has “educational ob

jectives” that include “ ‘lead[ing] each unsaved student to trust Christ as his/her personal savior and then to follow Christ as Lord of his/her life,’ ” and “ ‘develop[ing] within each student a Christian world view and Christian philoso

phy of life.’ ” Id ., at 84. Bangor Christian “does not believe there is any way to separate the religious instruction from the academic instruction.” Id ., at 85. Academic instruction and religious instruction are thus “completely intertwined.” Ibid. Bangor Christian teaches in its social studies class, for example, “ ‘that God has ordained evangelism.’ ” Id ., at 87. And in science class, students learn that atmospheric layers “ ‘are evidence of God’s good design.’ ” Id ., at 89. The second school, Temple Academy, similarly promotes religion through academics. Its “educational philosophy ‘is based on a thoroughly Christian and Biblical world view.’ ” Id ., at 92. The school’s “objectives” include “ ‘foster[ing] within each student an attitude of love and reverence of the Bible as the infallible, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God.’ ” Ibid. And the school’s “ ‘academic growth’ objectives” include “ ‘provid[ing] a sound academic education in which the subjec[t] areas are taught from a Christian point of view,’ ” and “ ‘help[ing] every student develop a truly Chris

tian world view by integrating studies with the truths of Scripture.’ ” Id ., at 93. Like Bangor Christian, Temple “pro

vides a ‘biblically-integrated education,’ which means that the Bible is used in every subject that is taught.” Id ., at 96. In mathematics classes, for example, students learn that “a creator designed the universe such that ‘one plus one is al

ways going to be two.’ ” Ibid. The differences between this kind of education and a purely civic, public education are important. “The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of most private religious schools.” Our Lady12 CARSON v. MAKIN

B REYER , J., dissenting of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru , 591 U. S. ___, ___ (2020) (slip op., at 2). “[E]ducating young people in their faith, inculcating its teachings, and training them to live their faith,” we have said, “are responsibilities that lie at the very core of the mission of a private religious school.” Id. , at ___ (slip op., at 18). Indeed, we have recognized that the “connection that religious institutions draw between their central purpose and educating the young in the faith” is so “close” that teachers employed at such schools act as “ministers” for purposes of the First Amendment. Id. , at ___, ___ (slip op., at 2, 21); see also Hosanna-Tabor Evan

gelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC , 565 U. S. 171 (2012). By contrast, public schools, including those in Maine, seek first and foremost to provide a primarily civic educa

tion. We have said that, in do ing so, they comprise “a most vital civic institution for the preservation of a democratic system of government, and . . . the primary vehicle for transmitting the values on which our society rests.” Plyler

v. Doe , 457 U. S. 202, 221 (1982) (citation and internal quo

tation marks omitted). To play that role effectively, public schools are religiously neutral, neither disparaging nor pro

moting any one particular system of religious beliefs. We accordingly have, as explained above, consistently required public school education to be free from religious affiliation or indoctrination. Cf. Edwards v. Aguillard , 482 U. S. 578, 583–584 (1987) (“The Court has been particularly vigilant in monitoring compliance with the Establishment Clause in elementary and secondary [public] schools”). Maine legislators who endorsed the State’s nonsectarian requirement recognized these differences between public and religious education. They did not want Maine taxpay

ers to finance, through a tuition program designed to en

sure the provision of free public education, schools that would use state money for teaching religious practices. See,
e.g. , App. 104 (Maine representative stating that “[f]rom a13 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

B REYER , J., dissenting public policy position, we must believe that a religiously neutral classroom is the best if funded by public dollars”); id. , at 106 (Maine senator asserting that the State’s “lim

ited [tax] dollars for schools” should be spent on those “that are non-religious and that are neutral on religion”). Under

lying these views is the belief that the Establishment Clause seeks government neutrality. And the legislators thought that government paymen t for this kind of religious education would be antithetical to the religiously neutral education that the Establishment Clause requires in public schools. Cf. Epperson , 393 U. S., at 106; McCollum , 333 U. S., at 211. Maine’s nonsectarian requirement, they be

lieved, furthered the State’s antiestablishment interests in not promoting religion in its public school system; the re

quirement prevented public funds—funds allocated to en

sure that all children receive th eir constitutional right to a free public education—from being given to schools that would use the funds to promote religion. In the majority’s view, the fact that private individuals, not Maine itself, choose to spend the State’s money on reli

gious education saves Maine’s program from Establishment Clause condemnation. But that fact, as I have said, simply permits Maine to route funds to religious schools. See, e.g. , Zelman , 536 U. S., at 652. It does not require Maine to spend its money in that way. That is because, as explained above, this Court has long followed a legal doctrine that gives States flexibility to navigate the tension between the two Religion Clauses. Supra , at 4. This doctrine “recog

nize[s] that there is ‘play in the joints’ between what the Establishment Clause permits and the Free Exercise Clause compels.” Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 6) (quoting Locke , 540 U. S., at 718). This wiggleroom means that “[t]he course of constitutional neutrality in this area cannot be an absolutely straight line.” Walz

, 397 U. S., at 669. And in walking this line of government14 CARSON v. MAKIN

B REYER , J., dissenting neutrality, States must have “s ome space for legislative ac

tion neither compelled by the Free Exercise Clause nor pro

hibited by the Establishment Clause,” Cutter , 544 U. S., at 719, in which they can navigate the tension created by the Clauses and consider their own interests in light of the Clauses’ competing prohibitions. See, e.g. , Walz , 397 U. S., at 669. Nothing in our Free Exercise Clause cases compels Maine to give tuition aid to private schools that will use the funds to provide a religious education. As explained above, this Court’s decisions in Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza prohibit States from denying aid to religious schools solely because of a school’s religious status —that is, its affiliation with or control by a religious organization. Supra , at 7–9. But we have never said that the Free Exercise Clause prohibits States from withholding funds because of the religious use to which the money will be put. Cf. Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12). To the contrary, we upheld in Locke a State’s decision to deny public funding to a recipient “because of what he proposed to do ” with the money, when what he proposed to do was to “use the funds to prepare for the ministry.” Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12); see also Espinoza , 591 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 13) (characterizing Locke similarly). Maine does not refuse to pay tuition at private schools because of religious status or affiliation. The State only denies funding to schools that will use the money to promote religious beliefs through a religiously integrated educ ation—an education that, in Maine’s view, is not a replacement for a civic-focused public education. See 979 F. 3d, at 38. This makes Maine’s deci

sion to withhold public funds more akin to the state decision that we upheld in Locke , and unlike the withholdings that we invalidated in Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza

. The Free Exercise Clause thus does not require Maine to fund, through its tuition progra m, schools that will use pub

-15 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

B REYER , J., dissenting lic money to promote religion. And considering the Estab

lishment Clause concerns underlying the program, Maine’s decision not to fund such schools falls squarely within the play in the joints between those two Clauses. Maine has promised all children within the State the right to receive a free public education. In fulfilling this promise, Maine en

deavors to provide children th e religiously neutral educa

tion required in public school systems. And that, in signif

icant part, reflects the State’s antiestablishment interests in avoiding spending public money to support what is es

sentially religious activity. The Religion Clauses give Maine the ability, and flexibility, to make this choice.

B In my view, Maine’s nonsectarian requirement is also constitutional because it supports, rather than undermines, the Religion Clauses’ goal of av oiding religious strife. Forc

ing Maine to fund schools that provide the sort of religiously integrated education offered by Bangor Christian and Tem

ple Academy creates a similar potential for religious strife as that raised by promoting re ligion in public schools. It may appear to some that the State favors a particular reli

gion over others, or favors religion over nonreligion. Mem

bers of minority religions, wi th too few adherents to estab

lish schools, may see injustice in the fact that only those belonging to more popular religions can use state money for religious education. Taxpayers may be upset at having to finance the propagation of religio us beliefs that they do not share and with which they disagree. And parents in school districts that have a public secondary school may feel indig

nant that only some families in the State—those families in the more rural districts without public schools—have the opportunity to give their child ren a Maine-funded religious education. Maine legislators who endorsed the State’s nonsectarian requirement understood this potential for social conflict.16 CARSON v. MAKIN

B REYER , J., dissenting They recognized the important rights that religious schools have to create the sort of religiously inspired curriculum that Bangor Christian and Temple Academy teach. Legis

lators also recognized that these private schools make reli

giously based enrollment and hiring decisions. Bangor Christian and Temple Academy, for example, have admis

sions policies that allow them to deny enrollment to stu

dents based on gender, gender-i dentity, sexual orientation, and religion, and both schools require their teachers to be Born Again Christians. App. 82–83, 89, 93, 98. Legislators did not want Maine taxpayers to pay for these religiously based practices—practices not universally endorsed by all citizens of the State—for fear that doing so would cause a significant number of Maine citizens discomfort or displeas

ure. See, e.g. , id. , at 101 (Maine representative noting that “private religious schools dis criminate against citizens of the State of Maine,” such as by “not hir[ing] individuals whose beliefs are not consistent with the school’s religious teachings,” and asserting that “it is fundamentally wrong for us to fund” such discrimination); id. , at 104 (Maine rep

resentative stating that “the p eople of Maine” should not use “public money” to advance “their religious pursuits,” and that “discrimination in religious institutions” should not be funded “with my dollar”); id. , at 107 (Maine senator expressing concern that “public funds could be used to teach intolerant religious views”). The nonsectarian requirement helped avoid this conflict—the precise kind of social conflict that the Religion Clauses themselves sought to avoid. Maine’s nonsectarian requirement also serves to avoid re

ligious strife between the State and the religious schools. Given that Maine is funding the schools as part of its effort to ensure that all children rece ive the basic public education to which they are entitled, Maine has an interest in ensur

ing that the education provided at these schools meets cer

tain curriculum standards. Religious schools, on the other17 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

B REYER , J., dissenting hand, have an interest in teaching a curriculum that ad

vances the tenets of their religion. And the schools are of course entitled to teach subje cts in the way that best re

flects their religious beliefs. But the State may disagree with the particular manner in which the schools have de

cided that these subjects should be taught. This is a situation ripe for conflict, as it forces Maine into the position of evaluating the adequacy or appropriateness of the schools’ religiously inspired curriculum. Maine does not want this role. As one le gislator explained, one of the reasons for the nonsectarian requirement was that “[g]overnment officials cannot, and should not, review the religious teachings of religious schools.” Ibid. Another leg

islator cautioned that the State would be unable to “recon

cile” the curriculum of “private religious schools who teach religion in the classroom” with Maine “standards . . . that do not include any sort of religion in them.” Id ., at 102. Nor do the schools want Maine in this role. Bangor Chris

tian asserted that it would only consider accepting public funds if it “did not have to make any changes in how it op

erates.” Id ., at 90. Temple Academy similarly stated that it would only accept state money if it had “in writing that the school would not have to alter its admissions standards, hiring standards, or curriculum.” Id ., at 99. The nonsec

tarian requirement ensures that Maine is not pitted against private religious schools in these battles over curriculum or operations, thereby avoiding the social strife resulting from this state-versus-religion confrontation. By invalidating the nonsectarian requirement, th e majority today subjects the State, the schools, and the people of Maine to social con

flict of a kind that they, and the Religion Clauses, sought to prevent. I emphasize the problems that may arise out of today’s decision because they reinforce my belief that the Religion Clauses do not require Maine to pay for a religious educa

tion simply because, in some rural areas, the State will help18 CARSON v. MAKIN

B REYER , J., dissenting parents pay for a secular education. After all, the Estab

lishment Clause forbids a State from paying for the practice of religion itself. And state neutrality in respect to the teaching of the practice of religion lies at the heart of this Clause. See, e.g. , Locke , 540 U. S., at 721–722 (noting that there are “few areas in whic h a State’s antiestablishment interests come more into play” than state funding of minis

ters who will “lead [their] congre gation[s]” in “religious en

deavor[s]”). There is no meaningful difference between a State’s payment of the salary of a religious minister and the salary of someone who will teach the practice of religion to a person’s children. At bottom, there is almost no area “as central to religious belief as the shaping, through primary education, of the next generation’s minds and spirits.” Zel

man , 536 U. S., at 725 (B REYER , J., dissenting). The Estab

lishment Clause was intended to keep the State out of this

area.
* * * Maine wishes to provide children within the State with a secular, public education. This wish embodies, in signifi

cant part, the constitutional need to avoid spending public money to support what is essentially the teaching and prac

tice of religion. That need is reinforced by the fact that we are today a Nation of more than 330 million people who as

cribe to over 100 different religions. In that context, state neutrality with respect to relig ion is particularly important. The Religion Clauses give Maine the right to honor that neutrality by choosing not to fund religious schools as part of its public school tuition program. I believe the majority is wrong to hold the contrary. And with respect, I dissent._________________

_________________ 1 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

S OTOMAYOR , J., dissenting 

## SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

No. 20–1088

DAVID CARSON, AS PARENT AND NEXT FRIEND OF O. C.,
ET AL ., PETITIONERS v. A. PENDER MAKIN

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
[June 21, 2022]

J USTICE S OTOMAYOR , dissenting. This Court continues to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the Framers fought to build. J USTICE B REYER explains why the Court’s analysis falters on its own terms, and I join all but Part I–B of his dissent. I write separately to add three points. First, this Court should not have started down this path five years ago. See Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer , 582 U. S. ___ (2017). Before Trinity Lu

theran , it was well established that “both the United States and state constitutions embody distinct views” on “the sub

ject of religion”—“in favor of free exercise, but opposed to establishment”—“that find no co unterpart” with respect to other constitutional rights. Locke v. Davey , 540 U. S. 712, 721 (2004). Because of this tension, the Court recognized

“ ‘room for play in the joints’ between” the Religion Clauses, with “some state actions permitted by the Establishment Clause but not required by the Free Exercise Clause.” Id., at 718–719 (quoting Walz v. Tax Comm’n of City of New York , 397 U. S. 664, 669 (1970)); see ante, at 4 (B REYER , J., dissenting). Using this flexibility, and consistent with a rich historical tradition, see Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___–___ (S OTOMAYOR , J., dissenting) (slip op., at 11–16), States and the Federal Government could decline to fund2 CARSON v. MAKIN

S OTOMAYOR , J., dissenting religious institutions. Moreover, the Court for many dec

ades understood the Establishment Clause to prohibit gov

ernment from funding religious exercise.* Over time, the Court eroded these principles in certain respects. See, e.g., Zelman v. Simmons-Harris , 536 U. S. 639, 662 (2002) (allowing government funds to flow to reli

gious schools if private indivi duals selected the benefiting schools; the government program was “entirely neutral with respect to religion”; and families enjoyed a “genuine choice among options public and private, secular and reli

gious”). Nevertheless, the space between the Clauses con

tinued to afford governments “some room to recognize the unique status of religious entities and to single them out on that basis for exclusion from otherwise generally applicable laws.” Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (S OTOMAYOR , J., dissenting) (slip op., at 9). Trinity Lutheran veered sharply away from that under

standing. After assuming away an Establishment Clause violation, the Court revolutionized Free Exercise doctrine by equating a State’s decision not to fund a religious organ

ization with presumptively unconstitutional discrimination on the basis of religious status. See id., at ___–___ (slip op., at 10–11). A plurality, however, limited the Court’s deci

sion to “express discrimination based on religious identity” ( i.e., status), not “religious uses of funding.” Id., at ___, n. 3 (slip op., at 14, n. 3). In other words, a State was barred

——————

* See, e.g., Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing , 330 U. S. 1, 16 (1947) (“No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions . . . ”); Agostini v. Felton , 521 U. S. 203, 222–223 (1997) (observing that government aid that impermissibly “advanc[ed] . . . religion” was constitutionally barred); Mitchell v. Helms , 530 U. S. 793, 840 (2000) (O’Connor, J., concurring in judgment) (“[O]ur decisions provide no precedent for the use of pu blic funds to finance religious ac

tivities” (internal quotation marks omitted)); see also Rosenberger v. Rec

tor and Visitors of Univ. of Va. , 515 U. S. 819, 875–876 (1995) (Souter, J., dissenting) (chronicling cases).3 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

S OTOMAYOR , J., dissenting from withholding funding from a religious entity “solely be

cause of its religious character,” id., at ___ (opinion of the Court) (slip op., at 14), but retained authority to do so on the basis that the funding would be put to religious uses. Two Terms ago, the Court reprised and extended Trinity Lutheran ’s error to hold that a State could not limit a pri

vate-school voucher program to secular schools. Espinoza

v. Montana Dept. of Revenue

, 591 U. S. ___, ___ (2020) (slip op., at 9). The Court, however, again refrained from extend

ing Trinity Lutheran from funding restrictions based on re

ligious status to those based on religious uses. Espinoza

, 591 U. S., at ___–___ (2020) (slip op., at 9–12). As J USTICE B REYER explains, see ante, at 8–9, this statususe distinction readily distinguishes this case from Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza . I warned in Trinity Lutheran

, however, that the Court’s analysis could “be manipulated to call for a similar fate for lines drawn on the basis of reli

gious use.” 582 U. S., at ___, n. 14 (dissenting opinion) (slip op., at 25, n. 14). That fear has come to fruition: The Court now holds for the first time that “any status-use distinction” is immaterial in both “theory” and “practice.” Ante, at 17. It reaches that conclusion by embracing arguments from prior separate writings and ig noring decades of precedent affording governments flexibilit y in navigating the tension between the Religion Clauses. As a result, in just a few years, the Court has upended constitutional doctrine, shift

ing from a rule that permits States to decline to fund reli

gious organizations to one that requires States in many cir

cumstances to subsidize religious indoctrination with taxpayer dollars. Second, the consequences of the Court’s rapid transfor

mation of the Religion Clauses must not be understated. From a doctrinal perspective, the Court’s failure to apply the play-in-the-joints principle here, see ante, at 13–14 (B REYER , J., dissenting), leaves one to wonder what, if any

thing, is left of it. The Court’s increasingly expansive view4 CARSON v. MAKIN

S OTOMAYOR , J., dissenting of the Free Exercise Clause risks swallowing the space be

tween the Religion Clauses that once “permit[ted] religious exercise to exist without spon sorship and without interfer

ence.” Walz , 397 U. S., at 669. From a practical perspective, today’s decision directs the State of Maine (and, by extension, its taxpaying citizens) to subsidize institutions that undisputedly engage in religious instruction. See ante, at 10–11 (B REYER , J., dissenting). In addition, while purporting to protect against discrimination of one kind, the Court requires Maine to fund what many of its citizens believe to be discrimination of other kinds. See ante, at 16 (B REYER , J., dissenting) (summarizing Bangor Christian Schools’ and Temple Academy’s policies denying enrollment to students based on gender identity, sexual ori

entation, and religion). The upshot is that Maine must choose between giving subsidies to its residents or refrain

ing from financing religious teaching and practices. Finally, the Court’s decision is especially perverse be

cause the benefit at issue is the public education to which all of Maine’s children are entitled under the State Consti

tution. As this Court has long recognized, the Establish

ment Clause requires that public education be secular and neutral as to religion. See ante, at 2–3, 12 (B REYER , J., dis

senting) (collecting cases). The Court avoids this framing of Maine’s benefit because, it says, “Maine has decided not to operate schools of its own, but instead to offer tuition as

sistance that parents may direct to the public or private schools of their choice.” Ante, at 14. In fact, any such “deci[sion],” ibid. , was forced upon Maine by “the realities of remote geography and low population density,” ante, at 2, which render it impracticabl e for the State to operate its own schools in many communities. The Court’s analysis does leave some options open to Maine. For example, under state law, school administra

tive units (SAUs) that cannot feasibly operate their own5 Cite as: 596 U. S. ____ (2022)

S OTOMAYOR , J., dissenting schools may contract directly with a public school in an

other SAU, or with an approved private school, to educate their students. See Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 20–A, §§2701, 2702 (2008). I do not understand today’s decision to man

date that SAUs contract directly with schools that teach re

ligion, which would go beyond Zelman ’s private-choice doc

trine and blatantly violate the Establishment Clause. Nonetheless, it is irrational for this Court to hold that the Free Exercise Clause bars Maine from giving money to par

ents to fund the only type of education the State may pro

vide consistent with the Establishment Clause: a reli

giously neutral one. Nothing in the Constitution requires today’s result.

* * * What a difference five years makes. In 2017, I feared that the Court was “lead[ing] us . . . to a place where separation of church and state is a constitutional slogan, not a consti

tutional commitment.” Trinity Lutheran , 582 U. S., at ___ (dissenting opinion) (slip op., at 27). Today, the Court leads us to a place where separation of church and state becomes a constitutional violation. If a State cannot offer subsidies to its citizens without being re quired to fund religious exer

cise, any State that values its historic antiestablishment in

terests more than this Court does will have to curtail the support it offers to its citize ns. With growing concern for where this Court will lead us next, I respectfully dissent.