Supreme Court of the United States
Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue
The Court
The Supreme Court sits as a whole rather than in panels.
- Chief Justice of the United States John Glover Roberts Jr.
- Justice Clarence Thomas
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Justice Stephen Gerald Breyer
- Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor
- Justice Elena Kagan
- Justice Neil M. Gorsuch
- Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh
Computed by Benchlight The Supreme Court publishes no panel, because every participating justice takes part. Benchlight therefore lists the justices commissioned and in active service on June 30, 2020, from Federal Judicial Center service records. Recusals are shown only where the source records them, so a justice who did not participate may still appear here.
Case history
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June 30, 2020decided Decision issued in Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue
Opinions and writings
(Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2019 1 Syllabus NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit…
Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court. *2251The Montana Legislature established a program to provide tuition assistance to parents who send their children to private schools. The program grants a tax credit to anyone who donates to certain organizations that in turn award scholarships to selected students attending such sc…
Justice GORSUCH, concurring. The people of Montana, acting through their legislature, adopted a school choice program. It provided a modest tax credit to individuals and businesses who donated to nonprofit scholarship organizations. As the program began to take root, Montana had just one scholarship organization. It granted scholarships to families who were struggling financially or had children with disabilities. Re…
Justice SOTOMAYOR, dissenting. The majority holds that a Montana scholarship program unlawfully discriminated against religious schools by excluding them from a tax benefit. The threshold problem, however, is that such tax benefits no longer exist for anyone in the State. The Montana Supreme Court invalidated the program on state-law grounds, thereby foreclosing the as-applied challenge petitioners raise here. Indeed…