## Facts

- Federal taxpayers challenged Title I of the Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963, which provided one-time federal construction grants and loans for “academic facilities” at institutions of higher education.
- The Act excluded funding for any facility used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or primarily for divinity programs.
- Four church-related colleges and universities in Connecticut received grants for five construction projects, subject to statutory conditions requiring exclusively secular educational use.
- The statute gave the United States a 20-year enforceable interest (including recapture rights) to ensure compliance with the secular-use restrictions; after 20 years, the federal interest and enforceable restrictions expired.
- The challengers presented evidence of the colleges’ religious affiliations and characteristics to argue the institutions were sectarian and ineligible for aid.

## Issues

1. Whether Title I authorizes federal construction grants to church-related colleges and universities.
2. Whether one-time construction grants for secular academic facilities at church-related colleges violate the Establishment Clause or Free Exercise Clause.
3. Whether limiting enforceable secular-use restrictions to a 20-year period violates the Religion Clauses.

## Decision

- The Court held that church-related colleges and universities were eligible recipients under Title I.
- The Court upheld the constitutionality of one-time grants for facilities restricted to secular educational use, concluding the program had a secular purpose, did not have the primary effect of advancing religion, and did not create excessive entanglement.
- The Court invalidated the statutory 20-year limitation on enforceable secular-use restrictions, reasoning that allowing unrestricted religious use after the term would function as a governmental contribution of valuable property to a religious body.
- The Court vacated and remanded the judgment for further proceedings consistent with its partial invalidation of the statute.

## Legal Principles

- Government aid to religiously affiliated institutions is not automatically unconstitutional; the controlling inquiry is whether the aid’s principal or primary effect advances religion.
- One-time construction grants for facilities that are nonreligious in character and restricted to secular educational use may satisfy Establishment Clause limits, particularly where ongoing governmental monitoring is limited.
- The risk of religious indoctrination from aid may be assessed in context; postsecondary settings can present less concern than primary and secondary education for diversion of secular aid to religious teaching.
- A statutory scheme that permits federally funded facilities to become available for unrestricted religious use after a fixed term can constitute unconstitutional support for religion, even if the initial funding was for secular use.

## Conclusion

The Court sustained federal construction grants for secular academic buildings at religiously affiliated colleges but struck down the statute’s 20-year limit on enforceable secular-use restrictions because it would allow the federally assisted facilities to become religious property without continuing safeguards, violating the Religion Clauses.


Tilton v. Richardson, 403 U.S. 672 (1971)