Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. (U.S. Supreme Court)

In Flast v. Cohen, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that taxpayers had standing to challenge a law enacted by Congress that appropriated government funds in violation of the Establishment Clause. In Hein, we argued that the reasoning of Flast should allow taxpayers standing to challenge the executive’s expenditures of money for religious purposes even when Congress did not specifically allocate the funding for a religious activity. A plurality of the Supreme Court opined that Flast was a “narrow exception” to the rule that “the payment of taxes is generally not enough to establish standing to challenge an action taken by the Federal Government.” In doing so, the Court reversed the judgment of the Seventh Circuit and rejected the petitioner’s challenge to President George W. Bush’s expenditures within the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.