The right of taxpayers to sue the Government on complaints that the Constitution is being violated by the expenditure of Federal funds for religious schools will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. The brief will be presented on behalf of seven appellants by Leo Pfeffer, special counsel of the American Jewish Congress, which is backing the suit along with the New York Civil Liberties Union, the United Federation of Teachers and the United Parents Association. The suit challenges sections of the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, under which Federal funds are provided for teaching services, textbooks, library materials and public school teachers in schools sponsored by churches or synagogues.
The Constitutionality of the Act however, will not be at stake before the Supreme Court but rather the right of taxpayers to bring suit. That right was rejected by a three judge Federal panel which decided last October that the complainants had no standing to sue because their contributions in the form of taxes were insufficient to give them a real interest in a court decision. The ruling was based on the 1923 Supreme Court ruling in Frothingham v. Mellon, which cited the Latin phrase “de minimis non curat lex — the law does not concern itself with trifles.”
Government attorneys invoked that principle 11 months ago when the challenge to the 1965 aid-to-education act was first heard in Federal District Court in New York and again before the three judge panel. In both instances the courts upheld their view.
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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.
