Court considers faith spending case

The U.S. Supreme Court considered
the right of groups to sue the government to stop spending on faith-based
initiatives.

Jewish groups are closely watching the case argued Wednesday before
the Supreme Court; in it, the Bush administration is appealing a federal court’s
decision to allow a Wisconsin-based group of atheists to sue the government for
spending taxpayer dollars on faith-based initiatives.

Taxpayers are generally
banned from suing the government over its spending, but in 1968, the U.S.
Supreme Court established an exception for spending on religion. The Bush
administration hopes that the court will now reverse that decision.