(CNN) The Supreme Court declined on Monday to step into a religious liberty dispute concerning whether taxpayer funds can be used for historic preservation at churches. The court decision to stay out of the dispute is a loss for the churches and leaves in place a decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court that held the denial of state funds to religious establishments did not violate the church's free exercise rights. However, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, wrote separately to say that while he agreed that the court should not take up this particular case because some of the facts were in dispute, he was troubled by a lower court opinion that went against the churches. "At some point, this court will need to decide whether governments that distribute historic preservation funds may deny funds to religious organizations simply because the organizations are religious," Kavanaugh wrote. Kavanaugh made clear that if another such case made it to the court, he believes that "barring religious organizations because they are religious from a general historic preservation grants program is pure discrimination against religion."

Source: CNN March 04, 2019 14:54 UTC