In just a few weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of Carson v. Macon.

Here's the background of that case.

The state legislature of Maine requires towns to make suitable provision at their own expense for the support

and maintenance of public schools. Well, that's fine, except that there aren't enough public

schools in Maine. And some estimates are that about half of Maine's school districts do not

themselves have adequate public schooling facilities for their students. Well, that's not necessarily

neglect. I mean, think about it.

It might be that there are very good reasons not to invest in the facilities and infrastructure

of an entire K-12 school system in a sparsely populated district with very few children. Anyway,

Maine has a solution to the problem for the families of children who do live in an area

without public school. The solution is that Maine will provide financial support for families

to send their kids to another school, either a different public school or even a private school.

So what's the problem? The problem is that the state does not make that funding available.

If the family chooses

to send their children to a religious school, or in the language of the state statute,

a sectarian school. So, is Maine acting in a way that is consistent with the two religious

freedom clauses of the Constitution's First Amendment, clauses that, in turn, guarantee a citizen's freedom to exercise

their religion, and that prohibit the state's establishment of a particular religious creed,

or is main, in fact, discriminating against religion in general by allowing these funds for all

but religious schools. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. That is my

back-of-the-envelope summary of the case that the court will hear in early December of 2021.

My guest today is a co-author of an amicus brief filed on behalf of the Orthodox Union in

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