Faith-Based Charities to Be Reviewed

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to step
into a dispute over the Bush administration's promotion of
federal financing for faith-based charities.

The program has been a staple of President Bush's political
agenda since 2001, when he created the White House Office
of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

The case under review grew out of a lawsuit filed by a group
called the Freedom from Religion Foundation. The group
claims the Bush administration violates a constitutional ban
on state-supported religions by singling out particular
faith-based organizations as worthy of federal funding.

The government tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, but a
federal appeals court ruled that the foundation's members
are taxpayers who are entitled to sue over a program
funded by Congress.

In written arguments filed with the Supreme Court, Solicitor
General Paul Clement said the appeals court had
transformed a narrow exception in law into a "roving license"
for citizens to challenge any action of the executive branch of
government.

The solicitor general's office says the Supreme Court should
reaffirm "fundamental limits" on taxpayer challenges.

In fiscal 2005, religious charities received $2.15 billion in
federal grants to administer a range of social service
programs for the needy, the White House says. That was
7 percent higher than the year before, and represented
10.9 percent of the total grants from the seven federal
agencies that are allowed to issue the money to faith-based
groups.

The case is Dennis Grace v. Freedom From Religion
Foundation, 06-157.

White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/