PORTLAND, Maine — Maine did not violate the U.S. constitutional rights of religious schools by requiring them to comply with the state’s anti-discrimination law in order to receive taxpayer-funded tuition assistance, a federal judge has ruled. But the judge also acknowledged that a higher court will ultimately have the final say.
According to U.S. District Judge John Woodcock Jr., there is no constitutional violation if religious schools are required to comply with the Maine Human Rights Act.
“Plaintiffs are free to practice their religion, including teaching their religion as they see fit, but cannot require the state to subsidize their religious teachings if they violate the state’s anti-discrimination law,” the judge wrote.
An appeal was filed Friday with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, a day after Woodcock issued his 75-page decision denying the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction.
The lawsuit is one of two in Maine focusing on the conflict between a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Maine cannot discriminate against religious schools in its student aid programs and a state law that requires schools participating in the student aid program to comply with the Maine Human Rights Act, which includes protections for LGBTQ students and faculty.
The Maine Human Rights Act was amended by state lawmakers regarding its application to schools before the Supreme Court decision. The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity or disability. This means that schools cannot discriminate against gay and transgender teachers and students, which could conflict with the beliefs of some religious schools.
Adele Keim, senior attorney for Becket Law, which represents the plaintiffs, accused Maine lawmakers of using the anti-discrimination measure to “bypass the Supreme Court” with the specific goal of preventing religious schools from participating. She also said the law is being applied unevenly because the state has sent tuition to an all-girls school in Massachusetts.
The lawsuits were filed after the justices ruled 6-3 that Maine cannot discriminate between secular and religious schools when providing tuition assistance to children in rural communities that do not have a public high school. The program allows those students to attend another school, public or private, of their choice.
A spokesman for Attorney General Aaron Frey declined to comment Monday.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland; a Roman Catholic school, St. Dominic’s Academy in Auburn, Maine; and parents who want to use state money to send their children to St. Dominic’s. Another lawsuit, filed by parents who want to send a child to Crosspoint Church in Bangor, is already pending in the appeals court in Boston. Keim said she wouldn’t be surprised if the appeals court heard arguments from both cases at the same time.
The Supreme Court decision was hailed as a victory for school choice advocates, and could revitalize efforts in some states that do not spend taxpayer dollars on private religious education.
But the impact in Maine is small. Since the ruling, only one religious school, Cheverus High School, a Jesuit college preparatory school in Portland, has participated in the state’s tuition reimbursement plan, a spokesman said.