## Facts

- Larry Witters, legally blind under Washington law, applied for state vocational rehabilitation assistance for the visually disabled.
- Witters sought funds to attend a private Christian college to prepare for work as a pastor, missionary, or youth director.
- The state agency administering the program denied benefits, citing a state constitutional prohibition on using public funds to support theological training.
- Under the program, assistance was paid to the student, who then paid the school of the student’s choice.
- The program was generally available and not designed to favor religious education or create incentives to pursue sectarian study.

## Issues

1. Whether providing neutrally available vocational rehabilitation aid to a recipient who chooses to use it for ministerial training violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

## Decision

- The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Washington Supreme Court and remanded.
- On the record presented, extending vocational rehabilitation aid to Witters for study at a Christian college would not have the primary effect of advancing religion in violation of the Establishment Clause.
- The Court limited its holding to the federal constitutional question and left open any independent state-law bar for resolution on remand.

## Legal Principles

- A neutrally framed, generally available public benefit program with a secular purpose does not violate the Establishment Clause merely because a recipient uses the aid for religious education.
- When funds reach a religious institution only through the genuine and independent private choice of the beneficiary, any benefit to religion is indirect and does not constitute state sponsorship or endorsement.
- Absent evidence that the program, in operation, channels a substantial share of its aid to religious uses, application of the program to a religiously motivated recipient does not, without more, have the primary effect of advancing religion.

## Conclusion

The Court held that Washington could provide vocational rehabilitation assistance to a blind student even if he chose to spend it on ministerial training at a Christian college, because the program was neutral and any aid to religion resulted from private choice rather than state action, and the case was remanded for further proceedings including possible state constitutional analysis.


Witters v. Wash. Dep’t of Servs. for the Blind, 474 U.S. 481 (1986)