Sutherland submits amicus brief to Utah Supreme Court defending Utah Fits All Program

SALT LAKE CITY (January 23, 2026) – Today, Sutherland Institute released a statement from Constitutional Law and Religious Freedom Fellow William C. Duncan about its amicus curiae brief submitted to the Utah Supreme Court in the education funding case Labresh v. Brown.

The case follows the ruling by Utah Third District Judge Laura Scott that the Utah Fits All scholarship program is unconstitutional.

“The state of Utah already provides indirect aid to private educational institutions, including those with a religious mission, through various other scholarship programs. The Board of Higher Education offers scholarships which include funds from legislative appropriations to ‘private, nonprofit institution of higher education in the state.’ The Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity administers the UPSTART Program to ‘provide preschool children across the state access to a home-based educational technology program with strong parental involvement’, in which both public and private preschool providers are eligible to participate.”

“The opportunities provided by our state go on. Striking down Utah Fits All as unconstitutional ignores the precedent set forth by our state’s many programs and scholarships. It would create an absurd result if the Constitution were read to say that any program or initiative that allows learning to take place outside of the public school system may not be funded by the State. The scholarships, special needs programs, preschool support, and adult education initiatives described above would be invalidated.”

The brief is available here:

Bill Duncan is available for press interviews. Contact Nic Dunn at 801-349-5961 or nic@sifreedom.org to schedule.