Bush's Faith-Based Programs Win Shield at Top Court

If one disagrees with every single thing George Bush has done in the last 6 years his two Supreme Court appointments make up for it.

The U.S. Supreme Court limited the power of taxpayers to challenge government actions as unconstitutionally promoting religion, throwing out a suit aimed at President George W. Bush's faith-based initiatives office.

The justices, voting 5-4, said a group of taxpayers lacked the legal right to sue over White House-sponsored conferences designed to help groups compete for social-service funding. The suit contended the sessions promoted religious organizations over secular ones.

``If every federal taxpayer could sue to challenge any government expenditure, the federal courts would cease to function as courts of law and would be cast in the role of general complaint bureaus,'' Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the court's lead opinion.

The decision insulates the federal government's executive branch from lawsuits centering on the U.S. constitutional ban on establishment of religion. The ruling also may shield states, although a number of them have laws that give their taxpayers broad rights to sue over public spending.