''Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn'', 563 U.S. 125 (2011), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving taxpayer standing under

Article Three of the United States Constitution Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. Under Article Three, the judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as lower courts created by Congres ...

.. A group of Arizona taxpayers challenged a state law providing tax credits to people who donate to school tuition organizations providing scholarships to students attending private or religious schools. The taxpayers claimed a violation of the

Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional text ...

. The District Court dismissed the case, holding that the taxpayers did not state a valid claim. The decision was reversed by the Ninth Circuit, which ruled that the respondents had standing to sue, citing ''

Flast v. Cohen ''Flast v. Cohen'', 392 U.S. 83 (1968), was a United States Supreme Court case holding that a taxpayer has standing to sue the government to prevent an unconstitutional use of taxpayer funds. The Supreme Court decided in '' Frothingham v. Mellon' ...

''. The Supreme Court ruled 5–4, in an opinion delivered by Justice

Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Presid ...

, that the plaintiffs did not have standing to bring suit.

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

PublicMind poll, Public Blesses Arizona Christian Tuition" http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2011/taxcredits/press release (April 4, 2011) The Court stated that it had "rejected the general proposition that an individual who has paid taxes has a 'continuing, legally cognizable interest in ensuring that those funds are not used by the Government in a way that violates the Constitution.'" Ultimately, the Supreme Court found that any damages or harm claimed by the taxpayers by virtue of simply being a taxpayer would be pure speculation because the issue at hand was a tax credit and not a government expenditure. Justice Scalia filed a concurring opinion, joined by Justice Thomas. In her dissent, Justice Kagan said "cash grants and targeted tax breaks are means of accomplishing the same government objective—to provide financial support to select individuals or organizations." She further argued: "taxpayers should be able to challenge the subsidy." The dissent was joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor. Bruce Peabody, a political science professor at

, remarked "the case brought out four dissents, a signal that those justices were prepared to decide the substantive issue." Equally,

Peter Woolley Peter J. Woolley is an American political scientist, pollster, and founding director of Fairleigh Dickinson University#PublicMind, PublicMind—an independent public opinion research group at Fairleigh Dickinson University. His research in public ...

, professor of political science and director of the PublicMind Poll, posited "in making this ruling on such narrow grounds, the court virtually guarantees that plaintiff in one guise or another will be back another day."

References

External links

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U.S. Supreme Court's coverage
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Oral argument transcripts and audio

SCOTUSBlog coverage
{{US1stAmendment, establishment 2011 in United States case law United States Constitution Article Three case law Establishment Clause case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court Education in Arizona Alliance Defending Freedom litigation

See also

References

Further reading

External links