Court Blocks Injunction, Allows Voucher Program To Continue Temporarily

By Mark Walsh

Washington

Nearly 800 Cleveland schoolchildren returned to religious schools at government expense last week after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked an injunction that had barred new participants from the city’s controversial voucher program.

By a 5-4 vote Nov. 5, the high court granted a request from voucher parents and the state of Ohio for a stay of a preliminary injunction issued in August by U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr.

The judge held that the voucher program’s inclusion of religious schools was likely an unconstitutional establishment of religion under the First Amendment. He initially issued a preliminary injunction that shut down the program for all 3,800 voucher recipients this year. After several chaotic days, however, the judge amended the injunction to allow the more than 3,000 students who had received vouchers the previous school year to continue receiving them until he reached a final decision...