Hughes Justice Complex. Photo by Carmen Natale

The New Jersey Supreme Court said Wednesday that it needs more information to determine whether the administration of Gov. Chris Christie violated the state constitution when it awarded more than $11 million in grants to an orthodox Jewish rabbinical school and a Presbyterian seminary.

In a per curiam ruling, the court said the secretary of education should conduct hearings in order to determine whether the grants violated a constitutional provision barring use of public funds to benefit religious institutions.

The ruling comes only weeks after the court issued a much more sweeping decision in Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders, holding that the award of $4.6 million in taxpayer funds by Morris County to churches for historic preservation violated the Religious Aid Clause of the state constitution. In that ruling, the court said that grant recipients “are not being denied grant funds because they are religious institutions; they are being denied public funds because of what they plan to do—and in many cases have done: use public funds to repair church buildings so that religious worship services can be held there,” Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote for the court.

Last May, in the present case, a three-judge Appellate Division panel, relying on Supreme Court precedent, said the state Department of Education violated Article 1, Paragraph 3 of the constitution in 2013 when it awarded $10.6 million to Beth Medrash Govoha, a Jewish Yeshiva in Lakewood, and $645,323 to the Princeton Theological Seminary, for the facilities' improvement. Appellate Division Judge Jack Sabatino, joined by Judges Allison Accurso and Karen Suter, said the Supreme Court barred the use of public funds to support religious institutions in its 1978 ruling in Resnick v. East Brunswick Board of Education. In that case, the court said public school facilities could not be used on nights and weekends by religious groups unless they were fully reimbursed.

On Wednesday, however, the high court said more information was needed. “The record does not reveal enough about the nature of the educational training and curriculum offered by the Yeshiva and the seminary and how it is delivered,” the court said. “Nor does the record present sufficient detail about how the grant fund projects will be put to use in the institutions' respect settings.

“It is imperative that those issues be more fully developed below,” the court said.

The award of the grants had been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey, and three taxpayers.

ACLU-NJ's legal director, Edward Barocas, said he welcomed the chance to develop a record.

“The court has afforded us this opportunity,” he said. “We believe the facts are on our side. Taxpayer funds cannot be used to support these activities.”

The Attorney General's Office, which had been defending the grants under the Christie administration, declined to comment.