Tilton v. Richardson

1971-06-28

Headline: Federal construction grants to church-related colleges upheld, but Court removes the law’s 20-year limit on secular-use protections, requiring lasting restrictions while allowing secular building aid to continue.

Holding: The Court ruled that Congress may fund construction at church-affiliated colleges for secular facilities, upheld the law’s constitutionality, but struck down the provision limiting enforcement of secular-use restrictions to 20 years.

Real World Impact:

Allows church-affiliated colleges to receive federal construction grants for secular facilities.
Removes the statute’s 20-year limit so secular-use protections persist beyond twenty years.
Leaves on-site inspections and enforcement to ensure facilities remain for nonreligious use.

Topics: federal aid to colleges, religious schools and funding, separation of church and state, higher education construction

Summary

Background

Taxpayers from Connecticut sued federal officials and four church-related colleges after the Government paid for five construction projects (libraries, a language lab, a science building, and an arts building) under the Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963. The Act authorizes grants for academic facilities used exclusively for secular education, bars use for sectarian instruction or worship, requires applicants to give assurances, and gives the United States a 20-year financial interest enforceable by on-site inspections.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether Congress meant to include church-related colleges and whether the law violated the First Amendment’s protections against government establishment of religion or interference with religious practice. The majority found that Congress included church-affiliated institutions, that the Act’s stated purpose of expanding secular higher education is legitimate, and that the record showed the five funded buildings were used for nonreligious purposes. The Court therefore upheld the Act’s authorization and general constitutionality. But the Court found a constitutional problem with the statutory rule that the Government’s enforcement remedy expires after 20 years. That time limit could allow a formerly secular facility to become religiously used while the federal grant would still effectively have aided religion.

Real world impact

The decision allows federal construction grants for secular facilities at church-affiliated colleges to continue. It removes the 20-year expiration of the secular-use obligation, making the ban on sectarian use effectively long-lasting. The case is returned to the lower court to enter judgment consistent with this ruling.

Dissents or concurrances

A separate opinion (Douglas, joined by Black and Marshall) argued a broader view: any direct aid to church schools is unconstitutional and that federal surveillance or auditing needed to enforce the conditions creates unacceptable entanglement.