AG James Uthmeier issued a legal opinion declaring that the state constitution\u2019s ban on public funding for religious institutions violates the First Amendment.<\/p>\n
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 Florida won\u2019t enforce a plank of its constitution barring public funds from going to religious institutions, Attorney General James Uthmeier stated Thursday.<\/p>\n
Uthmeier, who was appointed to the Cabinet position by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February 2025, issued an unprompted legal opinion declaring the state constitution\u2019s ban on funding for religious institutions to violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the free exercise of religion.<\/p>\n
The move opens the door to the possibility of religious charter schools and state-funded scholarships for religious universities.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, some Florida laws prohibit religious schools from accessing public funds. That\u2019s why during this Holy Week I issued a formal legal opinion concluding those laws are unconstitutional and my office will not enforce them,\u201d Uthmeier stated in a video posted on X.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Uthmeier\u2019s legal opinion argues the First Amendment\u2019s clause preventing the establishment of a particular religion only applies to the federal government, and the states are free to impose their own state religion.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The Establishment Clause) did not impose the same restriction on the states. In fact, many states at the Framing had established churches,\u201d Uthmeier wrote.<\/p>\n
Also, the First Amendment doesn\u2019t bar the states from \u201cencouraging\u201d religion, especially Christianity, Uthmeier asserts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear, then, that the First Amendment did not displace Christianity as the center of the nation\u2019s religious identity. At the Framing, \u2018the general, if not universal sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the State, so far as such encouragement was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience, and the freedom of religious worship,\u2019\u201d Uthmeier wrote, citing the 1833 book \u2018Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States\u2019 by Joseph Story.<\/p>\n
Uthmeier\u2019s interpretation of the Establishment Clause also claims that while atheists are protected in their beliefs, their actions derived from nonbelief aren\u2019t \u201cprivileged\u201d in the same way as those who adhere to a religion.<\/p>\n
The legal opinion could allow charter schools, which are independently run but receive funding from public school districts, to be religious in nature, and allow a state scholarship program to provide funds for students to attend Christian colleges.<\/p>\n
Uthmeier\u2019s letter cites the Effective Access to Student Education grant program, which provides scholarships to private nonprofit colleges. Under state law, religious colleges can\u2019t receive EASE grants.<\/p>\n
Florida statutes creating the charter school framework also require those schools to be nonreligious.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis blanket exclusion of all religious entities violates the First Amendment,\u201d Uthmeier wrote.<\/p>\n
But a deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court last year effectively upheld an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision rejecting a push to create a Catholic charter school. The court split 4-4 on the case, as Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself.<\/p>\n