Does A Justice Kavanaugh Mean That Blaine Amendments Are History?
Blaine Amendments are provisions in 38 state constitutions that bar public aid to religious organizations. They get their name from James G. Blaine, a congressman and later senator and presidential nominee from Maine who unsuccessfully attempted to amend the U.S. constitution in 1875 to include “anti-aid” language onto the end of the first amendment. Where he failed at the federal level, he and his ideological fellow travelers were successful at the state level. As a result, Blaine Amendments frequently act as state-level barriers against school choice.
It is important to note that while their language might look harmless in today’s light, at their inception, Blaine Amendments were designed to try and stamp out Catholic schools. Their use of the word “sect” or “sectarian” is the tell. Public schools at that time were nominally Protestant, with students singing hymns and reading the King James Bible in class. That was “nonsectarian” instruction. “Sectarian” meant Catholic. Interestingly, in the court’s recent 7-2 decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop, the court ruled that states have a duty “not to base laws or regulations on hostility to a religion or religious viewpoint.” I'm no lawyer, but to me, Blaine Amendments do just that.
Historians debate as to whether Blaine himself was an anti-Catholic bigot or if he was simply trying to ride a wave of anti-Catholic bigotry to get himself into the White House. Either way, Blaine Amendments have a clear origin in Know-Nothingism, Nativism, anti-immigrant, and anti-Catholic ideology. It is a cruel irony that many of those who decry nativism and anti- Continue reading: Does A Justice Kavanaugh Mean That Blaine Amendments Are History?
More On The Blaine Amendments
Big Education Ape: The Public Should Pay Only for Public Schools, not Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-public-should-pay-only-for-public.html
Big Education Ape: Blaine Amendments Protect Religious Liberty, Prohibit Establishing Religion via School Vouchers | janresseger - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/04/blaine-amendments-protect-religious.html
Big Education Ape: The Testing of States’ Blaine Amendments– No Public Funding of Religious Schools | deutsch29 - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-testing-of-states-blaine-amendments.html
Big Education Ape: Blaine Amendment Challenge in Limbo at the US Supreme Court | deutsch29 - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/03/blaine-amendment-challenge-in-limbo-at.html
Big Education Ape: Ravitch: Why the Supreme Court should not force the public to pay for religious schools - The Washington Post - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/04/ravitch-why-supreme-court-should-not.html
Big Education Ape: The Blaine Game | Blue Cereal Education - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-blaine-game-blue-cereal-education.html
Big Education Ape: How a Supreme Court Ruling on Playground Covering May Open the Door to School Vouchers - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/03/how-supreme-court-ruling-on-playground.html
Big Education Ape: The Beginning of the End for Blaine? | Jay P. Greene's Blog - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-beginning-of-end-for-blaine-jay-p.html
