Religious Pre-School's Exclusion From State Grant Program Required By State Constitution

In Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Pauley, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147674 (WD MO, Sept. 26, 2013),  a Missouri federal district court upheld the policy of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Solid Waste Management Program to exclude from its Scrap Tire Program any organization controlled by a church or by a religious sect or denomination. Thus plaintiff's religiously-affiliated day care and preschool facility could not apply for a grant under the program to buy recycled tires to resurface its playground. First the court concluded that providing a grant through the Scrap Tire Program would violate Art. I, Sec. 7 of the Missouri constitution that prohibits the expenditure of any public funds to aid a church or religious denomination.  The court then rejected arguments that the ban violated plaintiff's free exercise, establishment clause, free speech and equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution.