Does “charitable choice” violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution?
A. Probably yes. The Supreme Court has not yet addressed the constitutionality of “charitable choice” programs. In other contexts, the Court has ruled that pervasively sectarian institutions, such as houses of worship, cannot receive taxpayer dollars because government funding and monitoring of these institutions would violate the Establishment Clause. Therefore, ADL believes that “charitable choice” planswithout the safeguards discussed abovewould allow government funding to be used to promote religious beliefs, something the Establishment Clause prohibits. Moreover, allowing pervasively sectarian institutions to take the place of the government as the provider of essential services in a community will likely result in the kind of coercion that the Establishment Clause was designed to prevent. “Charitable choice” could result, for example, in Jewish families being encouraged to listen to Christian evangelists in order to receive government-funded assistance. With the appropriate safeg
Probably yes. The Supreme Court has not yet addressed the constitutionality of “charitable choice” programs. In other contexts, the Court has ruled that pervasively sectarian institutions, such as houses of worship, cannot receive taxpayer dollars because government funding and monitoring of these institutions would violate the Establishment Clause. Therefore, ADL believes that “charitable choice” planswithout the safeguards discussed abovewould allow government funding to be used to promote religious beliefs, something the Establishment Clause prohibits. Moreover, allowing pervasively sectarian institutions to take the place of the government as the provider of essential services in a community will likely result in the kind of coercion that the Establishment Clause was designed to prevent. “Charitable choice” could result, for example, in Jewish families being encouraged to listen to Christian evangelists in order to receive government-funded assistance. With the appropriate safeguar
