WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is ordering the top Colorado state court to look again at a school voucher program that it had struck down as unconstitutional.
The justices' action Tuesday follows a ruling a day earlier that was cheered by religious rights groups. The court held that churches could not be excluded from a state grant program for playground surfaces that was open to other charitable organizations.
The policy was based on a provision of the Missouri constitution that prohibits public money from going to religious institutions. The high court ruled that the exclusion violated the First Amendment rights of churches, at least when the money is meant for non-religious purposes.
Colorado has a similar constitutional provision that was the basis of the court ruling against the voucher program.