School choice is more than an education-reform proposal.
To many supporters of vouchers and charter schools, these policy innovations are crucial elements in the effort to vindicate the civil and political rights of low-income parents and members of racial minorities. In recent years, school choice has moved beyond an abstract topic for free-market theorists and constitutional scholars. In the months to come, however, other courts in Ohio, Maine, Vermont, and Arizona, are likely to address this same issue. However, given the twists and turns of the Supreme Court's Religion Clause jurisprudence, only the Supreme Court will be able to resolve the constitutional questions surrounding vouchers. At this panel, leading constitutional scholars and litigators will discuss various aspects of the problem of school-choice programs' constitutionality.