Source: The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0228/p03s03-usju.html
President Bush's faith-based initiative is a signature program of his administration. But not all Americans share the president's belief that the government should work in close partnership with religious organizations willing to perform nonreligious public services, like running homeless shelters or drug counseling programs.
Wednesday, the US Supreme Court takes up a case that examines to what extent those opponents have legal standing to file federal lawsuits alleging that the White House's faith-based initiative amounts to unconstitutional entanglement of church and state.
The case stems from a 2002 lawsuit filed by a Wisconsin-based group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Members of the group filed the suit as taxpayers who objected to having their tax money used to support religion.
Although the case revolves around the esoteric issue of taxpayer standing to sue, analysts say the case could foreshadow a shift in the Supreme Court's church-state jurisprudence. It marks the first opportunity for the high court to rule in a major religion case since the retirement of key swing voter Sandra Day O'Connor and the addition of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito.
"To evaluate the importance of the case you have to look at ... what might come out of it," says Ira Lupu, a professor at George Washington University Law School and church-state scholar.