Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 30, 2020 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- June 30, 2020
- Docket
- No. 18-1195
- Argued
- January 22, 2020
- Term
- October Term 2019
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Roberts
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Roberts (wrote), Justice Thomas (wrote a concurrence), Justice Alito (wrote a concurrence), Justice Gorsuch (wrote a concurrence), Justice Kavanaugh
- Dissenting
- Justice Ginsburg (wrote), Justice Breyer (wrote), Justice Sotomayor (wrote), Justice Kagan
Oral argument transcript and advocates
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court. The Montana Legislature established a program to provide tuition assistance to parents who send their children to private schools. The program grants a tax credit to anyone 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 question 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 parental and student choice in education" by enacting a scholarship program for students attending private schools. 2015 Mont. Laws p. 2168, § 7. The program grants a tax credit of up to $150 to any taxpayer who donates to a participating "student scholarship organization." Mont. Code Ann. §§ 15-30-3103(1), - 3111(1) (2019). The scholarship organizations then use the donations to award scholarships to children for tuition at a private school. §§ 15-30-3102(7)(a), -3103(1)(c). So far only one scholarship organization, Big Sky Scholarships, has participated in the program.…
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