Published: May 1, 1996

Court Deadlocks On Vouchers

Both sides in the debate over government vouchers for students at religious schools are scrambling to put the best face on the Wisconsin Supreme Court's 3-3 deadlock over the expansion of Milwaukee's voucher program.

Lacking the majority required for a decision, the state high court on March 29 sent the nationally watched case back to the trial court. In a brief opinion, three justices said they would have struck down the 1995 expansion of the program to include religious schools as a violation of the state constitution. The other three said the expanded program is "limited and experimental and . . . remains inoffensive to the dictates" of the federal and state constitutions. (The court's seventh justice had recused herself from the case before it was argued on Feb. 27.)

The deadlock was a setback for Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, who last year persuaded the high court to expedite its legal review of the case. The court agreed to the fast-track review last August but blocked religious schools from joining the voucher...