(DOWNLOAD) "Davey's Plea: Blaine, Blair, Witters, And the Protection of Religious Freedom (Congressmen James G. Blaine and James Blair)" by Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Davey's Plea: Blaine, Blair, Witters, And the Protection of Religious Freedom (Congressmen James G. Blaine and James Blair)
- Author : Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
- Release Date : January 22, 2003
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 366 KB
Description
On December 2, 2003 the United States Supreme Court heard a Ninth Circuit case involving a man whose state-supported college scholarship was rescinded because he sought to use it to study for the ministry. (1) The case centers on Washington State's Promise Scholarship Program, which the state created to encourage low- and middle-income students with excellent high school academic records to attend college. Under the program, scholarship money is available during the students' first two years of college ($1125 in the first year, $1542 in the second) that can be spent on any education-related expenses. (2) Joshua Davey received such an award in 1999 and subsequently enrolled at Northwest College, an accredited Christian school in Kirkland, Washington. When he informed state authorities that he intended to major in pastoral ministries (with a second major in business administration), however, the scholarship was withdrawn. The Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) based its action against Davey on a provision in the state that disqualifies students who are pursuing a administrative code that disqualifies students who are pursuing a degree in theology, (3) and a broader prohibition within the state constitution against public support for religion, religious instruction, or religious institutions. (4) The action by HECB was upheld by a federal district court when Davey sought a preliminary injunction pursuant to claims that the state had violated his constitutional rights pertaining to religion, speech, assembly, and equal protection. (5) A Ninth Circuit panel reversed this decision in a 2-1 ruling, which held that HECB's policy lacks neutrality and discriminates on the basis of religion. (6) In a long dissent, Judge M. Margaret McKeown contended that the majority had failed to appreciate the state of Washington's "vision of religious freedom" formed more than one hundred years ago, in 1889, when a constitutional convention first adopted the state charter. (7)