OLYMPIA, Wash. — Joshua Davey's hard work and good grades won him a state scholarship, but his ambition to be a minister denied him the money. Now, his legal challenge has become another U.S. Supreme Court battle over the separation of church and state.
Davey's case, set for oral argument on Tuesday, pits Washington state's tough ban on using public money for religious purposes against the federal Constitution's guarantee of freedom of religion.
A ruling in Davey's favor could overturn similar prohibitions in as many as 36 other states.
Davey — who has since abandoned his ambition for the ministry in favor of Harvard Law School — started the fight as a bid to use as he saw fit a state-funded scholarship he won fair and square.
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