Supreme Court lets stand appellate court ruling allowing credit for public school release time for religious education

Here's a press release from The Beckett Fund celebrating the Supreme Court's decision not to review a decision from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding South Carolina's decision to allow students to receive academic credit for religious instruction off campus during release time.  The Fourth Circuit had noted in its decision that if students didn't receive credit for the religious instruction, it made it more difficult for the students to participate in the release time program.  The actual text of the Fourth Circuit's opinion may be read here.

The Supreme Court's decision not to review the Fourth Circuit decision means that the Fourth Circuit's decision stands for that circuit.  The states located in that circuit include Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.  No state either within the circuit or outside the circuit will be required by this decision to provide academic credit for release time religious instruction, but no state within the Fourth Circuit will be prohibited from doing so.

This is a considerable judicial victory for both religious believers and the right of state governments to control eduction.