Court Opinions: Cleveland, OH Voucher Program In August, 1999 a federal district court judge issued an injunction against the Cleveland, Ohio voucher program. On 12/11/99, the Court of Appeals upheld the district court ruling that the program is unconstitutional, violating the separation of church and state. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and a decision is likely in June, 2002.


Court Opinions: US Supreme Court Ruling on Cleveland, OH Voucher Program On June 27, 2002, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of a voucher program in the Cleveland Schools. The 5-4 majority sustained the six-year-old program on the grounds that it was “entirely neutral with respect to religion” and that parents have a variety of options between both religious and secular schools, even though 95% of the funding went to religious schools. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who was joined by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas, wrote the opinion, which reverses a Court of Appeals decision. A dissenting opinion was written by Justice David Souter, joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer, saying that the majority opinion goes too far in promoting religion and that there was not true parental choice among schools. The dissent indicates that the voluntary character of private choice—a cornerstone of the majority’s ruling- is irrelevant.