U.S. Supreme Court to hear Maine dispute over religious schools

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took up a challenge by two families with children attending Christian schools to a Maine tuition assistance program that bars taxpayer money from being used to pay for religious educational institutions in a case that could further narrow the separation of church and state.

The justices agreed to hear an appeal by the families of a lower court ruling in favor of the state that concluded that Maine's program did not violate the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.