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Category: Legal/Constitutional

Document Type: Report

Additional federal agency regulatory changes during 2004 continued to develop the framework for government support for faith-based social service providers, according to this third annual "State of the Law" report by the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy. The report also identifies several significant court cases that have continued to shape the legal environment affecting how and where public dollars can be used to support the activities of religious organizations.

The State of the Law 2004: Partnerships Between Government and Faith-Based Organizations was prepared by George Washington University Law Professors Ira C. Lupu and Robert Tuttle, who co-direct legal research for the Roundtable, and who are recognized nationally as experts on church-state relations.

Among the new regulations enacted during 2004 and cited by the report are measures to preserve the religious character of federally-funded faith-based service providers, and to protect the religious liberty of those who receive benefits under government social welfare programs, particularly in settings where the government maintains extensive control over individuals, such as in prisons or the military. The report also cites regulations that were implemented to guide groups about constitutional limits on the use of government funds for certain religious activities.

The report also highlights five prominent state and federal judicial rulings during 2004 that carried important implications for government partnerships with religious organizations. Among the most prominent was "Locke v. Davey" in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of the states to maintain their own church-state policies governing the use of public funds for religious activities. The case upheld the denial of a Washington state scholarship because it was to be used for religious education. In rejecting the argument that equal treatment of religion and non-religion is always required by the federal Constitution, the High Court sustained similar laws in 36 other states.

State of the Law - 2004 also repeats earlier cautions that several issues still require more clarification, including those affecting the hiring rights of publicly-funded religious groups.

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The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy
Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government

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