Rubio Again Stands Up For Religious Liberty At The Supreme Court

Press Release

Last week, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), along with 33 members of Congress, defended religious liberty and the First Amendment rights of a Missouri church by filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley.

Trinity Lutheran Church runs a daycare and preschool in Columbia, Missouri. In 2013, the state of Missouri rejected Trinity Lutheran's application for a state grant to obtain playground safety material for the preschool. In a textbook case of religious discrimination, Missouri denied the application solely because of the preschool's affiliation with the church.

"Far from observing a "benevolent neutrality' toward religion, Missouri's denial of Trinity Lutheran's application to participate in the scrap tire program evinces active hostility to religious institutions," the brief states. "Despite meeting all secular criteria for the program, Trinity Lutheran was denied participation solely because it is a church. This Court has rejected similar applications of that sort of strict "no-aid' policy as "unfaithful to our constitutionally protected tradition of religious liberty.'"

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