In Bishop of Charleston v. Adams, the Liberty Justice Center seeks to prevent South Carolina officials from using a long-standing discriminatory law to deny independent and religious schools access to federal COVID relief funds.
The following article by Rickey Dennis appeared on May 3, 2021 on The Post and Courier.
Private schools suing the state for access to millions of dollars in public funds urged a federal judge to help South Carolina move beyond the “mistakes of its past” by forcing the distribution of the money to dozens of independent schools.
U.S. District Judge Bruce Hendricks heard arguments May 3 in Charleston from the religious institutions requesting a preliminary injunction to bypass the “Blaine Amendment,” which bans private schools from receiving public funds.
The amendment, which traces back to 1895, is preventing historically Black colleges and universities and Catholic schools from receiving “fair, equitable access” to COVID-19 emergency relief funding, said Daniel Suhr, attorney for the plaintiffs.