Blaine amendments in state constitutions
From Ballotpedia
Blaine Amendments refer to language in state constitutions that prohibits public funding for schools or educational institutions run by religious organizations. The language in each state constitution varies. Blaine Amendments are named after an amendment to the U.S. Constitution—sponsored by James Gillespie Blaine—that was proposed but never passed.
Status of Blaine Amendments by state
Blaine Amendments were added to the state constitutions of 38 states. Louisiana's Blaine Amendment was repealed by voters in 1974, leaving 37 states with Blaine Amendments in their constitutions as of 2020.
In 31 states, the existing versions of Blaine Amendments were included when the state's most recent constitution or constitutional revision was ratified by voters, which means voters did not vote specifically on the Blaine Amendment but rather considered an entirely new constitution or a larger set of revisions that contained the Blaine Amendment language. In six states, Blaine Amendments were added through specific constitutional amendments, at least three of which were referred to the ballot by constitutional revision commissions.
In Utah and South Carolina, the states' Blaine Amendments were amended to remove the prohibition against indirect public funding of religious schools, leaving a prohibition against direct public funding.
Origin of Blaine Amendments
- See also: Blaine Amendment (U.S. Constitution)
Blaine Amendments are named after James Gillespie Blaine of Maine, the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives during the 1870s. More specifically, Blaine Amendments are named after a U.S. Constitutional amendment proposed by Blaine. The proposal was passed in the U.S. House but did not receive the necessary two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate.[1]
The amendment sought to alter and expand the First Amendment to add the following: ”No state shall make any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and no money raised by taxation in any state for the support of public schools, or derived from any public fund therefor, nor any public lands devoted thereto, shall ever be under the control of any religious sect, nor shall any money so raised or lands so devoted be divided between religious sects or denominations.”[2]
Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue
On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded a Montana Supreme Court ruling in a 5-4 opinion, holding the application of Article X, Section 6 (Montana's Blaine Amendment) of the Montana Constitution violated the free exercise clause of the U.S. Constitution. The majority held that the application of Article X, Section 6 was unconstitutional because it barred religious schools and parents who wished to send their children to those schools from receiving public benefits because of the religious character of the school.[3]
Click here to read more about Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue.
See also
- School vouchers
- Education policy in the United States
- Blaine Amendment (U.S. Constitution)
- Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue
External links
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, "Blaine, James Gillespie."
Footnotes
- ↑ "Of Orphans and Vouchers: Nevada's "Little Blaine Amendment" and the Future of Religious Participation in Public Programs," by Jay S. Bybee, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2002
- ↑ The Religious Liberty Archive, A service of the Religious Institutions Group," accessed April 11, 2014
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, decided June 30, 2020
