Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
| Zelman v. Simmons-Harris | |
|---|---|
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| Argued February 20, 2002 Decided June 27, 2002 |
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| Full case name | Susan Tave Zelman, Superintendent of Public Instruction of Ohio, et al., Petitioners v. Doris Simmons-Harris, et al.' |
| Citations | 536 U.S. 639 (more)
122 S. Ct. 2460; 153 L. Ed. 2d 604; 2002 U.S. LEXIS 4885; 70 U.S.L.W. 4683; 2002 Cal. Daily Op. Service 5788; 2002 Daily Journal DAR 7295; 15 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 490
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| Prior history | On writs of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Simmons-Harris v. Zelman, 234 F.3d 945, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 31367, 2000 FED App. 411P (6th Cir. Ohio 2000) |
| Holding | |
| The Court ruled that the Ohio program did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, because it passed a five-part test developed by the Court. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Rehnquist, joined by O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas |
| Concurrence | O'Connor |
| Concurrence | Thomas |
| Dissent | Stevens |
| Dissent | Souter, joined by Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer |
| Dissent | Breyer, joined by Stevens, Souter |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I | |
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 536 U.S. 639 (2002), was a five to four decision of the United States Supreme Court that tested the allowance of school vouchers in relation to the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
A divided Court upheld an Ohio school voucher plan.
The public schools in many of the poorer parts of Cleveland were deemed failures, and the legislature enacted the Pilot Project Scholarship Program in an effort to address the problem. Ohio had been running the "Pilot Project Scholarship Program" which allowed parents of qualified students in the Cleveland School District since the 1996–97 school year to use public money to pay for tuition at private schools in the program; this included religious schools. Of the fifty six private schools that agreed to the Pilot Project Scholarship Program, forty six of them were sectarian. This program aimed to improve the significantly low educational performance of the students in the Cleveland public school district The program provided tuition vouchers for up to $2,250 a year to some parents of students in the Cleveland City School District to attend participating public or private schools in the city and neighboring suburbs; it also allocated tutorial aid for students who remained in public school.
The vouchers were distributed to parents according to financial need, and these parents chose where to enroll their children. Because the number of students applying to the program greatly exceeded the number of vouchers available, recipients were chosen by lottery from among the eligible families. In the 1999–2000 school year, 82 percent of the participating private schools had a religious affiliation; none of the adjacent suburban public schools joined the program; and 96 percent of the students receiving vouchers were enrolled in religiously affiliated schools and 60 percent were from low-income families, at or below the poverty line. Participating schools are not permitted to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or ethnic background. They are also not allowed to "advocate or foster unlawful behavior or teach hatred of any person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion." A group of Ohio taxpayers then filed an action against Susan Zelman, the superintendent of public education in Ohio, pleading that this program violates the Establishment Clause. Simmons-Harris along with other residents of the Cleveland area argued that the government "could not pay tuition for students to attend religious school." The local federal district court, in addition to the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of Simmons-Harris. Zelman continued this case and appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, in which ruled to sustain the voucher program.
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