Cochran v. Louisiana State Board of Education

Background

A group of Louisiana citizens and taxpayers sued to stop the State Board of Education from using the state severance tax fund to purchase schoolbooks and give them free to children under two 1928 laws. They argued the spending violated the State Constitution and the U.S. Constitution, saying it improperly aided private and religious schools. The state trial court refused to enjoin the law, and the Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed that decision.

Reasoning

The U.S. Court reviewed two federal arguments. First, it declined to consider a claim under the part of the Constitution that guarantees a republican form of government, calling that a political question not for courts. Second, it rejected the Fourteenth Amendment claim that buying books with tax money was an unconstitutional taking for private benefit. The state court had found the money was spent for the benefit of schoolchildren and the state, not for schools themselves. The books provided are the same used in public schools, are not designed for religious instruction, and are lent to the children. The U.S. Court agreed this showed a public purpose.

Real world impact

The decision allows Louisiana to continue using severance tax money to buy and lend textbooks to children, regardless of the type of school they attend, so long as the books serve general education and are not religious texts. It limits federal constitutional challenges by taxpayers on the ground that such spending is an improper private benefit. The judgment was affirmed, so the challenged laws remain operative under the Court’s ruling.