The Senate approved yesterday a bill to permit judicial review of the constitutionality of Federal aid to church-supported schools and colleges. The measure, identical to one passed last year by the Senate and killed by a House committee, would set up procedures for contesting the constitutionality of loans and grants in various Federal aid programs for education.
Efforts to obtain such tests have failed because of a Supreme Court ruling, in 1923, that taxpayers did not have court standing to challenge how Federal monies were spent. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Sam J. Ervin, Jr., North Carolina Democrat, would authorize suits by taxpayers and non-profit agencies against specific grants or loans. Sen. Ervin is a leading opponent of such Federal aid on grounds of violation of the church-state separation principle.
The measure was sent to the House where prospects of passage were rated as doubtful. Rep. Emanuel Celler, New York Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary committee, opposes such measures. He said public agencies could get court tests on the constitutionality of such Federal aid under existing law.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
