Court Bars Suit Against Faith-Based Plan

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's faith-based initiatives got a boost Monday from the Supreme Court: a ruling that ordinary taxpayers cannot sue to stop conferences that help religious charities apply for federal grants.

President Bush called the 5-4 decision "a substantial victory for efforts by Americans to more effectively aid our neighbors in need of help."

The court blocked a lawsuit by a group of atheists and agnostics against eight Bush administration officials including the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

The taxpayers set out "a parade of horribles" they contended could happen, Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. None did and "in the unlikely event that any of these executive actions did take place, Congress could quickly step in," he wrote.

The ruling's effects are limited, opponents said.

"Most church-state lawsuits, including those that challenge congressional appropriations for faith-based programs, will not be affected," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Lynn called Alito's statement that Congress could step in "quite incredible because the damage is done when the president acts." Lynn said Congress cannot anticipate action by the president that might violate the constitutional separation of church and state. "We have the courts to do precisely this, rein in the president or the Congress," he said.

The taxpayers' group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc., objected to government conferences in which administration officials encourage religious charities to apply for federal money.

The justices' decision revolved around a 1968 Supreme Court ruling that enabled taxpayers to challenge government programs that promote religion.

That earlier decision involved the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which financed teaching and instructional materials in religious schools in low-income areas.

"This case falls outside" the narrow exception allowing such lawsuits to proceed, Alito wrote. Congress must provide a specific appropriation, he said, and in the suit over the administration conferences the White House pulled the money out of general appropriations.

In dissent, Justice David Souter said the court should have allowed the challenge to proceed.