The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would take up the question of whether states can deny financial aid to students who major in theology.

The justices agreed to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that struck down a Washington State law that prohibits the awarding of financial aid to students pursuing degrees in theology. In a 2-to-1 decision last July, the appeals court held that Washington violated the First Amendment's religious-freedom provision and the 14th Amendment's equal-protection guarantees when it rescinded Joshua Davey's scholarship in 1999, after he decided to major in both business administration and theology at Northwest College, an institution in Kirkland, Wash., that is affiliated with the Assemblies of God Church (The Chronicle, August 9, 2002).

Mr. Davey had sued the state, arguing that he had met all the criteria to receive a Promise scholarship, the state's merit-based award, which was worth $1,125 at the time. A lower federal court had ruled in favor of the state in 2000. But in overturning that decision last year, the appeals court said the scholarship's criterion was discriminatory, and its broad purpose of helping pay the college expenses of bright students required that it be viewpoint-neutral.

The appeals court's ruling had a limited effect in Washington, since only a few students who receive state financial aid major in theology. Still, a Supreme Court decision on the case could have far-reaching consequences. Fourteen states besides Washington ban the use of state dollars for theology training: Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

"We are pleased with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review this case," Marcus Gaspard, executive director of Washington's Higher Education Coordinating Board, said on Monday in a statement. "We look forward to a resolution that will reconcile state law and our state Constitution with the U.S. Constitution. In the meantime, our state's financial-aid programs are required to follow the decision issued by the Ninth Circuit Court."

Mr. Davey's lawyer, Jay Sekulow, of the American Center for Law and Justice, said that although his client continued to pursue a degree in theology and recently graduated from Northwest College, the lack of a scholarship could have denied him the opportunity for a college education. "We will now work to convince the Supreme Court that it should uphold the findings of the appeals court by ruling that creating religious exclusions in scholarship funding policies is not only unacceptable, but unconstitutional as well."

The Supreme Court is expected to hear the Washington case, Locke v. Davey, No. 02-1315, in the term that it will begin in October.