LARUE V. COLORADO BOARD OF EDUCATION (COLORADO SUPREME COURT, 2014)

LaRue v. Colorado Board of Education challenges Colorado's school voucher program that allows state funding to flow to parochial schools. While the Supreme Court has interpreted the U.S. Constitution to permit similar programs in other states, the Colorado's constitution contains a No-Aid Clause that more explicitly prohibits direct and indirect state funding of religion. The ADL and a coalition of religious groups from multiple faiths argue that Colorado's No-Aid Clause and the U.S. Constitution's Religion Clauses are not synonymous, and that the former reflects Colorado's considered judgment that government funding of religion threatens religious liberty. Accordingly, the brief urges the Colorado Supreme court to find that the voucher program violates the state constitution.