The Center for American Liberty has filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit challenging Vermont’s latest attempt to sideline religious families from its school-choice program.
After losing in court over its unconstitutional exclusion of religious schools, Vermont didn’t change course—it changed the rules.
The state enacted Act 73, rewriting its school-choice eligibility requirements so that roughly 75% of private secular schools remain eligible for tuition payments while every religious school in Vermont is excluded.
That’s not compliance. It’s constitutional end-running.
But this case is about more than religious schools. It’s about parents.
In Vermont, Religious schools are illegally excluded from the voucher system, for having the audacity to be religious—a blatant form of discrimination.
The Constitution does not allow government to force families into that choice.
CAL’s amicus brief argues that Vermont’s law burdens one of America’s oldest and most fundamental constitutional liberties: the right of parents to direct the religious upbringing and education of their children.
Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, laws that substantially interfere with that right must face the highest level of constitutional scrutiny.
The stakes extend far beyond Vermont.
If states are allowed to simply rewrite eligibility rules after losing constitutional challenges—while achieving the exact same discriminatory result—it creates a blueprint for governments across the country to evade the First Amendment.
The Center for American Liberty exists to stop exactly this kind of government overreach.
Whether the target is free speech, religious liberty, or parental rights, we will continue defending Americans against unconstitutional attempts to erode their freedoms—no matter how creatively those attempts are disguised.
Read the Amicus Brief