U.S. Supreme Court Rules for School Choice

by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of school choice in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, a case involving Arizona’s private school scholarship tax credit program. The Supreme Court declared that the plaintiffs in the case lack standing to bring the challenge, reversing a decision by Ninth Circuit. From...

by Amanda Griffin-Johnson

Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of school choice in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, a case involving Arizona’s private school scholarship tax credit program. The Supreme Court declared that the plaintiffs in the case lack standing to bring the challenge, reversing a decision by Ninth Circuit.

From the Institute for Justice press release:

In 1997, Arizona adopted the nation’s first statewide scholarship tax credit program.  Under that program, individuals who donate to nonprofit organizations (known as School Tuition Organizations) may take a dollar-for-dollar tax credit against their state income taxes, up to a maximum of $500 per taxpayer.  The program requires that the School Tuition Organizations use 90 percent of the donations received to award tuition scholarships, thus enabling low- and middle-income parents to send their children to private schools.

The ACLU of Arizona challenged Arizona’s tax credit program on behalf of several state taxpayers alleging that by giving other taxpayers the ability to donate to religiously affiliated nonprofit organizations that the state was effectively advancing religion.  A federal district court originally dismissed the ACLU’s lawsuit, citing Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reinstated the suit because most taxpayers to date have donated to religiously affiliated charities.  The Institute for Justice joined the Alliance Defense Fund’s Petition for Review of the Ninth Circuit’s decision, which argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing.

“When Arizona taxpayers choose to contribute to [School Tuition Organizations], they spend their own money, not money the State has collected from respondents or from other taxpayers,” wrote Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, for the 5-4 majority.  “While the State, at the outset, affords the opportunity to create and contribute to [a School Tuition Organization], the tax credit system is implemented by private action and with no state intervention.  Objecting taxpayers know that their fellow citizens, not the State, decide to contribute and in fact make the contribution.”

“Like contributions that lead to charitable tax deductions, contributions yielding [School Tuition Organization] tax credits are not owed to the State and, in fact, pass directly from taxpayers to private organizations.  Respondents’ contrary position assumes that income should be treated as if it were government property even if it has not come into the tax collector’s hands.  That premise finds no basis in standing jurisprudence,” continued Kennedy.

For more information on the case, click here for the full press release from the Institute for Justice.