How the Supreme Court just dangerously undermined the separation of church and state

Remember that critical constitutional principle? It's now endangered.

The Supreme Court of the United States.
(Image credit: iStock)

If Chief Justice John Roberts is to be believed, the Supreme Court ruled today in a modest case involving playground surfaces. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor saw the Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer decision for what it is: a fundamental reshaping of the relationship between church and state in the United States, and not for the better.

At issue is the Supreme Court's decision today that the state of Missouri was required to provide funding to a church-run preschool and daycare center under a program to improve playgrounds. Sotomayor wrote a powerful dissent which again makes clear that her nomination was one of the best decisions Barack Obama made as president. But only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined it. Astonishingly, both Obama's other nominee, Elena Kagan, and the Clinton nominee Stephen Breyer joined Roberts to vote to require Missouri to provide the funding.

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Scott Lemieux

Scott Lemieux is a professor of political science at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., with a focus on the Supreme Court and constitutional law. He is a frequent contributor to the American Prospect and blogs for Lawyers, Guns and Money.