Every once in a while...

...even the Rehnquist court gets one right. In fact, every once in a while, the Chief Justice his own self gets one right!

That was the case today when, by a 7-2 majority (only Scalia and Thomas dissented), the Washington State Constitution's prohibition against the use of state money for religious purposes was upheld.

At issue was the use of one of the state's 'Promise' scholarships by Joshua Davey to study for the ministry at an Assemblies of God bible college near Seattle. It was Davey's specific choice of a major, not the nature of the institution, that brought him into conflict with the state constitution. As Rehnquist wrote in the majority decision, "Training someone to lead a congregation is an essentially religious endeavor. Indeed, majoring in devotional theology is akin to a religious calling as well as an academic pursuit."

Jay Sekulow, the attorney for the Pat Robertson backed American Center for Law and Justice that represented Davey, has called it the "most important case" of his lifetime, and to the degree that that's true, it's a sweet victory indeed. In fact, the ramifications go far beyond Mr. Davey's personal circumstances. This has a direct bearing on the ability of the 37 states which have similar constitutional provisions to fight attempts to force them to adopt voucher systems that would divert scarce public education resources to religious institutions. Sekulow would like to paint this as a civil rights matter, but it was a money grab pure and simple.

In fact, as Rehnquist carefully pointed out, not aspect of religious liberty was affected by the state constitution. "It imposes neither criminal nor civil sanctions on any type of religious service or rite," the high court majority said.

In fact, as real proponents of religious liberty have long recognized, anytime there's government sponsorship of religious activity, genuine religious liberty is impinged, not enhanced. Separation protects both church and state, and the ruling in Locke v. Davey protects us all.