Becket Fund challenges South Dakota's Blaine AmendmentApr 24, 2003 The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has filed a federal lawsuit (PDF format,
68K) challenging a provision of South Dakota's Constitution because it "violates
federal constitutional guarantees against religion discrimination."
The provision is a "Blaine Amendment" adopted at the insistence of
the U.S. Congress as a condition of admission to the union in 1889. Such amendments
are named after Rep. James G. Blaine, who proposed adding such a provision to
the U.S. Constitution in 1875, at the peak of a wave of nativist sentiments
and hostility to "sectarian" schools. (Public, or "common"
schools, as they were known, invariably taught religion, but it was a lowest-common-denominator
type of Protestantism. The term "sectarian" was used at various times
to describe out of favor Protestant groups, or Catholics, and was not synonymous
with "religious.") The proposed federal amendment failed, by a narrow
margin, but similar provisions were added to dozens of sate constitutions, where
they continue to bar state aid to religious schools to this day.
The Becket Fund, together with attorney Daniel F. Duffy of Bangs, Butler, Foye
& Simmons, LLC, in Rapid City, is representing three elementary school students
who attend Bethesda Lutheran School in Hot Springs, South Dakota, and their
parents.
Students Luke and Benjamin Pucket and Jaime Wilhelm have been transported to
Bethesda Lutheran School for years on publicly funded busses along with public
school students, under a state law permitting local school districts to provide
such a service. Last fall, after reexamination of policy prompted by the district's
insurance company, school officials asked the state Attorney General whether
providing bus service to Bethesda students was legal. He referred them to an
official opinion declaring that it was illegal under the state Blaine Amendment.
As a result, on December 9, 2002, the school district terminated bus services
for Bethesda Lutheran Students.
The Becket Fund is also challenging the Massachusetts version of the Blaine
Amendment, and expects to file similar suits in other states as well. The full
text of the law suit filed today can be found at www.becketfund.org and considerable
additional information about Blaine Amendments in general can be found on a
special website maintained by the Becket Fund, www.blaineamendments.org .
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