hirty-seven states have provisions in their constitutions that explicitly bar government aid to so-called "sectarian" schools or institutions. As seven Justices of the current Supreme Court have recognized--along with a growing number of legal academics and historians--the term "sectarian" was code for "Catholic," and was added to state constitutions in order to enforce the nativist bigotry of the day. Some Blaine Amendments are very restrictive, some are more permissive, whether by their terms or by judicial interpretation. Some were enacted immediately following the failed attempt to attach a Blaine Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1875. Others were adopted during the decades before, when anti-immigrant hatred was still building. Still others became law during the early part of the 20th century, during a resurgence of anti-immigrant sentiment. All pose a potential threat to the adoption of school choice programs, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, which made clear that the federal Constitution permits such aid.

Click on the links below to view each state's Blaine Amendment and related laws and decisions. Neither the state-specific pages, nor any other part of this website, intends to or actually does provide legal advice.

 

Alabama	Kansas	North Dakota
Alaska	Kentucky	Ohio
Arizona	*Massachusetts	Oklahoma
California	Michigan	Oregon
Colorado	Minnesota	Pennsylvania
Delaware	Mississippi	South Dakota
Florida	Missouri	South Carolina
Georgia	Montana	Texas
Hawaii	Nebraska	Utah
Idaho	Nevada	Virginia
Illinois	New Hampshire	Washington
Indiana	New Mexico	Wisconsin
Iowa	New York	Wyoming

* denotes forerunners to the 1875 Blaine Amendment.

© 2003 The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty