Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/15-577_khlp.pdf
Page Number: 44.0

18 

TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH OF COLUMBIA, INC. v.
COMER 
SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting
 

historical  pedigree  identical  to  that  of  the  provision  in 
Locke.  Almost  all  of  the  States  that  ratified  the  Religion 
Clauses  operated  under  this  rule.    See  540  U. S.,  at  723. 
Seven  had  placed  this  rule  in  their  State  Constitutions.7 
Three enforced it by statute or in practice.8  Only one had
not  yet  embraced  the  rule.9    Today,  thirty-eight  States 

—————— 

7 See  N.  J.  Const.,  Art.  XVIII  (1776),  in  5  Thorpe  2597    (“[N]or  shall
any person, within this Colony, ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or 
any  other  rates,  for  the  purpose  of  building  or  repairing  any  other
church or churches, place or places of worship, or for the maintenance
of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or
has  deliberately  or  voluntarily  engaged  himself  to  perform”);  N.  C. 
Const., Art. XXXIV (1776), in id., at 2793 (“[N]either shall any person, 
on any pretence whatsoever, . . . be obliged to pay, for the purchase of
any  glebe,  or  the  building  of  any  house  of  worship,  or  for  the  mainte-
nance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes right, or
has  voluntarily  and  personally  engaged  to  perform”);  Pa.  Const.,  Art. 
IX,  §3  (1790),  in  id.,  at  3100  (“[N]o  man  can  of  right  be  compelled  to
attend,  erect,  or  support  any  place  of  worship,  or  to  maintain  any 
ministry, against his consent”); S. C. Const., Art. XXXVIII (1778), in 6 
id.,  at  3257  (“No  person  shall,  by  law,  be  obliged  to  pay  towards  the 
maintenance and support of a religious worship that he does not freely 
join  in,  or  has  not  voluntarily  engaged  to  support”);  Vt.  Const.,  ch.  1,
Art.  III  (1786),  in  id.,  at  3752  (“[N]o  man  ought,  or  of  right  can  be
compelled  to  attend  any  religious  worship,  or  erect,  or  support  any 
place  of  worship,  or  maintain  any  minister,  contrary  to  the  dictates  of
his conscience”). 

Delaware  and  New  York’s  Constitutions  did  not  directly  address,
but were understood to prohibit, public funding of religion.  See Curry,
76, 162; see also Del. Const., Art. I, §1 (1792) (“[N]o man shall or ought
to  be  compelled  to  attend  any  religious  worship,  to  contribute  to  the 
erection  or  support  of  any  place  of  worship,  or  to  the  maintenance  of
any ministry, against his own free will and consent”). 

8 See  Virginia,  Act  for  Establishing  Religious  Freedom,  in  5  The
Founders’  Constitution  85  (P.  Kurland  &  R.  Lerner  eds.  1987);  Curry 
211–212  (Rhode  Island  never  publicly  funded  houses  of  worship); 
Esbeck, Dissent and Disestablishment: The Church-State Settlement in 
the  Early  American  Republic,  2004  B.  Y.  U.  L.  Rev.  1385,  1489–1490
(Maryland  never  invoked  its  constitutional  authorization  of  religious
assessments). 

9 See N. H. Const., pt. 1, Arts. I, VI (1784), in 4 Thorpe 2453, 2454.