On December 8, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Carson v. Makin, whose outcome will determine whether states can legally prohibit recipients of government private-school tuition assistance from attending religious or sectarian schools. While this case addresses a specific Maine state tuition assistance program, the Court’s decision may set a precedent for the legal treatment of religious schools nationally.

Carson is the latest in a succession of major supreme court cases at the junction of religious liberty and educational choice, now with the potential to build upon precedents from the 2020 case Espinoza v. Montana decision.

On December 2, 2021 at 1pm EST, the Manhattan Institute will host a virtual panel to forecast the impacts of this case on religious schools and the landscape for educational pluralism. The panel will feature Manhattan Institute senior fellow and University of Notre Dame law professor Nicole Stelle Garnett, Partnership Schools superintendent Kathleen Porter-Magee, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law professor and vice dean Michael Helfand, and Genius Schools president Susan Labadi. Manhattan Institute senior fellow Andy Smarick will moderate the discussion.
 

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