General
SCOTUS Amici Curiae Brief of USCCB in Support of Trinity Lutheran Church v. Pauley (2016)
SCOTUS Amici Curiae Brief of USCCB in Support of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Sara Parker Pauley, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, April 21, 2016
Brief of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Missouri Catholic Conference, National Catholic Educational Association, the Salvation Army National Corporation, and General Synod of the Reformed Church in America as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner.
The First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion bars the government from singling out religious persons or groups for disfavored treatment. Yet Missouri has done just that by excluding petitioner Trinity Lutheran from the state’s Scrap Tire Program, which subsidizes the replacement of asphalt playgrounds with rubberized material derived from recycled tires. Missouri’s only reason for excluding Trinity Lutheran was a state constitutional provision barring public funding for religious organizations; indeed, the state denied Trinity Lutheran’s application specifically on the ground that the school is operated by a church. Missouri’s overt discrimination against Trinity Lutheran purely because of its religious status is repugnant to the First Amendment.
Like discrimination based on race or national origin, discrimination based on religion is inherently suspect and can be upheld only if necessary to serve a compelling governmental interest. Missouri lacks any legitimate, let alone compelling, interest in excluding Trinity Lutheran from the Scrap Tire Program. Including Trinity Lutheran would not violate the Establishment Clause, or even raise a serious Establishment Clause question. And Missouri cannot justify religious discrimination by pointing to a purported state interest in maintaining greater church-state separation than the Establishment Clause requires. States have no more discretion to discriminate based on religion in violation of the Free Exercise Clause than to violate any other part of the Bill of Rights.
For these reasons, the Court should hold that Missouri may not exclude Trinity Lutheran from the Scrap Tire Program based on its religious status and reverse the judgment below.