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.TEWISHINEWS

. sides as the Supreme Court
takes up a case that could clar-
ify the increasingly murky
body of law dealing with government
aid to parochial schools — or just add
to the confusion.
The 12-year-old case, Mitchell v.
Helms, involves the Title 6 program,
which provides funds for library mate-
rials, computers and other educational
equipment for both public and
parochial schools.
Ironically, the administration is
defending the constitutionality of the
program even though the Department
of Education has tried to "zero out"
the Title 6 program in recent years.
But now, officials here want to use the
program as part of their effort to hook
up every classroom in the nation to
the Internet.
Past rulings have been contradicto-
ry. A Louisiana Grcuit Court termed
the Title 6 program unconstitutional
on church-stare grounds, but another
court ruled in the opposite direction.
Marc Stern, legal director for the
American Jewish Congress, said his
group "will support continued restric-
tions on aid to parochial schools.
Exactly where we draw the line
remains to be worked out." ,
At the very least, he said, the deci-
sion is likely to be significant in decid-
ing what the states can do in terms of
new technologies in the schools. What,
for instance, is the stare's responsibility
to help parochial schools provide the
Internet and computers?"
Agudath Israel of America is hop-
ing for a different outcome.
The case "will give the Supreme
Court the opportunity to revisit an –
issue they addressed last in the 1970s,"
said David Zwiebel, the group's execu-
tive vice president for governmental
and public affairs. "There has been a
lot of change in jurisprudence since
then. I believe the court will take a
more generous view of the constitu-
tionality of these. forms of assistance."
The Title 6 program is particularly
important for Jewish parochial
schools, Zwiebel said.
"Right now we have a crazy quilt

hodgepodge of some programs that
are deemed constitutionally acceptable
[and] others that are not," Zwiebel
said. "This case could bring some
order to that — or create even more
of a mess. You never Know."

A Trip Delayed
For Hillary

White House insiders aren't saying
when First Lady Hillary Rodham
Clinton will be traveling to Israel and
Jordan, now that her June 23 trip has
been scrubbed because of the political
uncertainty in Israel.
Clinton, an all-but-announced can-
didate for the Senate from New York,
was originally scheduled to visit early
in the year, but that trip was post-
poned because of the impending elec-
tion in Israel and because the adminis-
tration wanted to keep well clear of
outgoing Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu.
After Ehud Barak's victory in May,
the visit was quickly rescheduled. But
Barak's victory has yet to be consum-
mated; the lack of a new government
at the time of her trip means Clinton
would have been welcomed by
Netanyahu, a prospect the State
Department didn't relish.
The department's officials would
just as soon see the trip put off indefi-
nitely. Clinton's presence in Israel,
they worry, would touch off barrages
of questions-about her views on
Palestinian statehood. This, at a time
when the issue is still very much up in
the air, with Palestinian sources saying
a declaration could come this year.

Will Hadassah
Back Down?

Right-of-center groups are also mobiliz-
ing to fight plans by Hadassah to give
their Henrietta Szold Award to Hillary
Clinton at the group's annual conven-
tion in Washington at the end of July.
Officials of the 300,000-member
Zionist group stress that the decision
to give Clinton their highest honor —
approved overwhelmingly by
Hadassah's lay leadership — is based
on the first lady's extensive humanitar-

