Last week, as one of hundreds of other cases, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari to the case Hile v Michigan. The lower court’s rulings upholding Michigan’s Blaine Amendment as a facially neutral law that does not single out religious people for disfavored treatment remain valid.

Michigan’s Blaine Amendment was added to the state constitution in 1970. Article 8, section 2 of Michigan’s Constitution states, in part, “No public monies or property shall be appropriated or paid or any public credit utilized, by the legislature or any other political subdivision or agency of the state directly or indirectly to aid or maintain any private, denominational or other nonpublic, pre-elementary, elementary, or secondary school. No payment, credit, tax benefit, exemption or deductions, tuition voucher, subsidy, grant, or loan of public monies or property shall be provided, directly or indirectly, to support the attendance of any student or the employment of any person at any such nonpublic school or at any location or institution where instruction is offered in whole or in part to such nonpublic school students.“ 

While the Supreme Court struck many states' Blaine Amendments in Espinoza v Montana Department of Revenue, 591 US. 464, Michigan’s amendment continues to stand because of its prohibition against use of funds for any private education, not just religious programs. Chief Justice Roberts made clear in Espinoza that Michigan’s amendment is on strong footing when he wrote, “A State need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.” (140 S. Ct. 2246, 2261 (2020)). 

By denying certiorari, the Supreme Court has reinforced its view that states are not required to subsidize private education so long as they do so in a blanket fashion. If you have any questions on this or other legal matters please contact MASB's Legal Services Department.