Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1088_dbfi.pdf
Page Number: 21

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

17 

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 status-
based 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 “essentially 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 ___ (slip