Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/15-577_khlp.pdf
Page Number: 31.0

Cite as:  582 U. S. ____ (2017) 

5 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

on  recovery  violated  the  Establishment  Clause. 
“[T]he
original  federal  grant  w[ould]  in  part  have  the  effect  of 
advancing  religion,”  a  plurality  explained,  if  a  grantee
“converted  [a  facility]  into  a  chapel  or  otherwise  used  [it]
to promote religious interests” after twenty years.  Id., at 
683;  see  also  id.,  at  692  (Douglas,  J.,  concurring  in  part 
and  dissenting  in  part);  Lemon  v.  Kurtzman,  403  U. S. 
602, 659–661 (1971) (Brennan, J., concurring); id., at 665, 
n. 1 (opinion of White, J.).  Accordingly, the Court severed 
the twenty-year limit, ensuring that program funds would 
be put to secular use and thereby bringing the program in
line with the Establishment Clause.  See Tilton, 403 U. S., 
at 683 (plurality opinion).

This case is no different.  The Church seeks state funds 
to  improve  the  Learning  Center’s  facilities,  which,  by  the 
Church’s  own  avowed  description,  are  used  to  assist  the 
spiritual  growth  of  the  children  of  its  members  and  to
spread the  Church’s faith to the children of nonmembers.
The  Church’s  playground  surface—like  a  Sunday  School 
room’s walls or the sanctuary’s pews—are integrated with 
and integral to its religious mission.  The conclusion that 
the  funding  the  Church  seeks  would  impermissibly  ad-
vance religion is inescapable. 

True,  this  Court  has  found  some  direct  government
funding  of  religious  institutions  to  be  consistent  with  the
Establishment  Clause.  But  the  funding  in  those  cases 
came with assurances that public funds would not be used 
for  religious  activity,  despite  the  religious  nature  of  the 
institution.  See,  e.g.,  Rosenberger,  515  U. S.,  at  875–876 
(Souter,  J.,  dissenting)  (chronicling  cases).  The  Church 
has  not  and  cannot  provide  such  assurances  here.3  See 
—————— 

3 The  Scrap  Tire  Program  requires  an  applicant  to  certify,  among
other things, that its mission and activities are secular and that it will
put  program  funds  to  only  a  secular  use.   App.  to  Pet.  for  Cert.  127a– 
130a.  From the record, it is unclear whether the Church provided any 
part  of  this  certification.    Id.,  at  127a–130a.    In  any  case,  the  Church