TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – On Thursday, Florida’s Attorney General, James Uthmeier, took to social media to reveal a significant policy shift, stating that his office will cease enforcing certain educational laws.
In a video shared on the platform X, Uthmeier explained that some state laws explicitly prevent religious schools from receiving public funding. He argued that these restrictions are “likely unconstitutional.”
Uthmeier’s official opinion, filed the same day, references the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, which safeguards individuals’ rights to practice their faiths freely in everyday life.
He also pointed out the Establishment Clause, which prevents the government from endorsing one religion over others.
The opinion notes that this clause has been used to support the Blaine Amendments in various states, including Florida, which aim to entirely bar religious schools from obtaining government funds.
Consequently, Uthmeier contends that the state should not exclude religious private institutions from funding opportunities solely based on their faith-based nature.
Uthmeier also cites the Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another.
“It has also been used to justify the Blaine Amendments in many states, including Florida, that purport to impose blanket prohibitions on the receipt of government funds by religious schools,” the opinion reads.
As such, the attorney general argues that the state shouldn’t be able to disqualify certain private firms from funding solely because they’re religious.
“Any attempt to discriminate against otherwise qualifying religious entities is ‘odious to our Constitution and could not stand,’” he writes. “The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly invalidated the exclusion of state benefits from religious entities.”
Therefore, Uthmeier says the following laws discriminate on the basis of religion and are thus “unconstitutional.”
It’s not the first time that Uthmeier declared he wouldn’t enforce state laws, though.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year, he also put out a list of 80 laws that discriminate on the basis of factors like race, saying that he wouldn’t uphold these rules, either.
[Read the full list of race-based laws below]
Meanwhile, you can read Uthmeier’s latest opinion in full below:
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