The Arizona Supreme Court has already upheld a law that gives tax credits for private school scholarship donations, but a lawsuit claiming the application of the law has had the effect of advancing religion can go forward, according to a decision by a unanimous 9th Circuit panel today. AP reports :
The appellate court said the program does not realistically provide a range of educational choices for parents seeking scholarships to attend a nonreligious school.
Instead, the law effectively “creates incentives that pressure those parents into accepting one of the scholarships that are readily available under the program for use at a religious school,'' Judge Raymond C. Fisher wrote in the unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel.
The ruling sent the case back to U.S. District Court in Phoenix for further proceedings.
