Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1195_g314.pdf
Page Number: 4

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

1 

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 formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 18–1195 
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KENDRA ESPINOZA, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. 
MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF 
MONTANA 

[June 30, 2020] 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  ROBERTS  delivered  the  opinion  of  the 

Court. 

The Montana Legislature established a program to pro-
vide tuition assistance to parents who send their children
to private schools.  The program grants a tax credit to any-
one  who  donates  to  certain  organizations  that  in  turn 
award  scholarships  to  selected  students  attending  such
schools.  When petitioners sought to use the scholarships at 
a religious school, the Montana Supreme Court struck down
the program.  The Court relied on the “no-aid” provision of 
the State Constitution, which prohibits any aid to a school 
controlled by a “church, sect, or denomination.”  The ques-
tion presented is whether the Free Exercise Clause of the 
United  States  Constitution  barred  that  application  of  the
no-aid provision. 

I 
A 
In 2015, the Montana Legislature sought “to provide pa-
rental and student choice in education” by enacting a schol-
arship  program  for  students  attending  private  schools. 
2015  Mont.  Laws  p.  2168,  §7.  The  program  grants  a  tax