New York, NY, October 1, 1998.... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has filed an amicus brief urging the United States Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a Wisconsin decision in Jackson v. Benson which upheld the constitutionality of a state school voucher program. The publicly-funded initiative provides parents with tuition vouchers that are redeemable at private schools, including sectarian and religious institutions.

"This case has the potential to further erode the First Amendment or to make it clear that this nation is centered on the firm principle of separation of church and state," noted Howard P. Berkowitz, ADL National Chairman. "The Constitution prohibits the government from using state funds to promote religious indoctrination. We hope the Supreme Court will take this opportunity to reaffirm this fundamental tenet of American democracy," Mr. Berkowitz said.

The League's brief includes the following arguments:

The principles embodied in the Establishment Clause…cannot and should not be compromised, notwithstanding the difficult problems state and local governments admittedly must confront regarding the state of public education in our urban communities.

The proponents of the Milwaukee voucher experiment ignore not only the special status public schools have as shapers of values, ideas and knowledge which are central to the notion of community and the ability to exercise fundamental constitutional rights, but almost a half a century of jurisprudence recognizing this critical link between public education and the common good of our democracy.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.