Bender said it would be unusual for the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case, in which the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the private-school scholarship program could pressure parents who need help paying tuition to choose religious schools, before a full trial in the lower court takes place.
"Our argument is that the STO (school-tuition organization) is giving out tax revenue in a program the government has encouraged and provided revenue for," said Bender, a lead attorney opposing the tax-credit program. "It's tantamount to the government giving money and saying you can have this money if you go to a religious school. They are discriminating on the basis of religion."
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Bender teaches courses on U.S. and Arizona constitutional law. He has written extensively about constitutional law, intellectual property and Indian law, and is coauthor of the two-volume casebook/treatise, Political and Civil Rights in the United States. Bender has argued more than 20 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and actively participates in constitutional litigation in federal and state courts.