The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether states may reject religious charter schools from receiving public funding, agreeing to hear arguments in an appeal out of Oklahoma involving the first such school in the nation.
St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School applied last year to participate in Oklahoma’s charter school program, which would provide it with public funding. In June, the state’s highest court overturned its approval, ruling that charter schools must be non-sectarian and that St. Isidore would “evangelize the Catholic faith as part of the school curriculum.”
The court’s decision could have far-reaching national implications, making it easier for religious organizations to apply for and receive public school funding. Religious freedom organizations have closely monitored the case.
“Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer,” said Jim Campbell, chief legal counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious legal organization that represents the school. “There’s great irony in state officials who claim to be in favor of religious liberty discriminating against St. Isidore because of its Catholic beliefs.”
The court will most likely hear arguments this spring and issue a decision before July. Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case without providing a reason.
For years, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has blurred the line between church and state, especially in education. In a series of decisions, the Supreme Court has stated that states may not discriminate against religious schools when allocating taxpayer funds for specific programs.
Several groups opposed to the school, including Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, urged the Supreme Court to uphold the state court’s decision.
“Converting public schools into Sunday schools would be a dangerous sea change for our democracy,” they said in a joint statement.
Conservatives were divided over the Oklahoma school and its subsequent litigation. Oklahoma’s Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the school.
“Today, Oklahomans are being forced to support Catholicism,” Drummond said in a statement last year. “Tomorrow we may be forced to fund radical Muslim teachings like Sharia law.”
Drummond’s spokesman, Phil Bacharach, said in a brief statement that the office is looking forward to arguing before the Supreme Court.
St. Isidore contended that Oklahoma’s charter school program “invited private educators to participate” and that denying religious schools the opportunity to participate constitutes “religious hostility.”
Trump administration asks court to pause Biden-era appeals
As the Supreme Court considers its final cases for the current term, President Donald Trump’s administration hinted Friday that some may be removed.
On Friday, Justice Department attorneys asked the Supreme Court to pause action on four pending appeals, including one involving California’s strict vehicle emissions rules, in the first sign that the new administration is reconsidering its portfolio of cases before the country’s highest court.
Sarah Harris, the Trump administration’s acting solicitor general, urged the Supreme Court in a series of filings to pause briefing in three environmental cases and one involving student loan forgiveness when borrowers believe they were defrauded by a university.
The most significant is an appeal from fuel companies challenging California’s ability to effectively set vehicle admissions standards for the rest of the country. Trump removed the state’s authority to set those standards, but President Joe Biden’s administration reinstated it. The filing on Friday is the latest indication that the Environmental Protection Agency under Trump will withdraw the tougher emissions standards again, likely rendering the underlying legal dispute at the Supreme Court moot.
“After the change in administration, the EPA’s acting administrator has determined that the agency should reassess the basis for and soundness of” the Biden administration decision, Harris informed the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court’s docket is, as usual, stacked with cases involving federal government decisions and regulations. Court observers have been keeping an eye out for signs that the Trump administration may reverse Biden’s position in high-profile cases involving transgender rights, such as the Food and Drug Administration’s crackdown on flavored vaping products. It is unclear whether the new administration will take action in these cases.
Trump has moved quickly to reverse Biden’s policy positions and executive actions, but he may proceed more cautiously at the Supreme Court, where justices generally dislike abrupt shifts from administration to administration.
