Parents File Federal Civil Rights Challenge to Massachusetts Barriers to School Choice

Mar 3, 1998

Parents of diverse faiths and backgrounds filed suit in federal court in Boston today alleging that portions of the Massachusetts Constitution are discriminatory and undemocratic.  The parents, represented by The Becket Fund, a public interest law firm, claim that two Massachusetts constitutional provisions  that bar them from seeking tuition aid violate their rights under the  First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause  of  the U.S. Constitution.

The parents are challenging the Anti-Aid Amendment, Article 18 of the Massachusetts Constitution, and the Anti-Petition provisions of Article 48.  The Anti-Aid Amendment, passed in 1854 at the height of the anti-immigrant and anti- Catholic "Know-Nothing" movement, bars any public funds from going to religious schools.  It was passed in an attempt to preserve the native-born, white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant nature of the common schools and the culture.   The Anti-Aid Amendment bars the Massachusetts legislature from enacting legislation regarding scholarships, vouchers or similar reforms.

Plaintiffs also challenge provisions of Article 48, which explicitly bar citizen petition initiatives that attempt to repeal or alter the Anti-Aid Amendment.  Two years ago, two of the plaintiffs and other citizens sought to start such a petition drive, but their application for a petition was denied.

"This case is about fundamental fairness in the democratic process," Becket Fund President and General Counsel Kevin Hasson said.  "The tuition aid these parents seek should be open to consideration by the people of Massachusetts through their elected representatives on an equal basis with other controversial issues.  School choice should be allowed to stand or fall on its merits, not shut off from debate based on these two anti-religious Amendments, which are holdovers from a dark period in Massachusetts history."

The Becket Fund is a non-partisan and ecumenical public-interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions. 

Relevant Cases

• Wirzburger v. Galvin