Roemer v. Board of Public Works of Maryland

Summary

The Court affirmed the judgment upholding Maryland's annual, noncategorical grants to qualifying private colleges, including religiously affiliated colleges, because the institutions were not pervasively sectarian and the statutory restriction on sectarian use limited aid to secular activities. The Court also held that the program did not create excessive entanglement because the colleges' secular functions were separable, monitoring was limited, and the program's political divisiveness was insufficient. Justice White concurred in the judgment on narrower grounds, while Justices Brennan, Stewart, and Stevens dissented and would have invalidated the grants.