American Supreme Court swing to the right, undermining First Amendment

President George W. Bush got what he hoped for from his new Supreme Court this week – a distinct swing to the right.

Among decisions that have alarmed liberals, the Court threw out a lawsuit from the Freedom from Religion Foundation which challenged Bush’s faith-based initiative. This now gives the born-again President the right to continue the programme which he created by executive order without congressional approval.

The faith-based decision now protects Bush's programs from legal challenges and indicates that the court will be “less concerned about keeping church and state separate, so later decisions will be more sympathetic to government's cooperating with religious institutions,” said said Tom Goldstein, a Harvard Law School lecturer on Supreme Court litigation

The plaintiffs in the case, including taxpayers from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, had argued that the funding of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, violated the established separation of church and state, putting the government in the position of steering hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to groups with strong religious affiliations. The plaintiffs argued that Bush was spending taxpayer funds to hold conferences at which religious groups were urged to apply for federal grants.

But the Supreme Court, while not ruling directly on the First Amendment church-state issue, found that the taxpayers who sued the government can not do so simply because they pay taxes.

Between 2001 and 2005, the United States awarded $1.7 billion to 159 faith-based groups for work overseas, none of which was being directly monitored for church-state separation compliance. Some secular groups that did not receive the grants criticised several conditions attached to the expenditures on grounds that they were designed to favour religious organizations.

Bush explained that he created the White House office on faith-based initiatives after Congress refused to pass the legislation. "I got a little frustrated in Washington because I couldn't get the bill passed," Bush said in March 2004. "Congress wouldn't act, so I signed an executive order -- that means I did it on my own."

Bush hailed the court decision, calling it "a substantial victory for efforts by Americans to more effectively aid our neighbours in need of help. The faith-based and community initiative can remain focused on strengthening America's armies of compassion and expanding their good works."

But Annie Laurie Gaylor, a plaintiff in the case and co president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said the court's ruling has prevented a legal examination of the larger issue of church-state relations.

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