Supreme Court blocks launch of nation's first public religious school
The Brief
Oklahoma cannot proceed with opening the nation's first publicly funded religious school after a 4-4 Supreme Court vote.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case, presumably because of her friendship with an adviser to the Oklahoma school.
Chief Justice John Roberts likely sided with the court's liberals to block the school.
A deadlocked Supreme Court blocked the creation of a publicly funded Catholic charter school in Oklahoma in a 4-4 vote.
The ruling upholds an Oklahoma court decision to invalidate a vote by a state charter school board to approve the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which would have been the nation's first religious charter school. But it leaves the issue unresolved nationally.
The notice from the court is only one sentence with no opinion attached.
Big picture view
The 4-4 deadlock did not include a vote from Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who recused herself.
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She didn't explain her absence, but she is good friends with and used to teach with Notre Dame law professor Nicole Garnett, who has been an adviser to the Oklahoma school.
The issue could return to the high court in the future, with the prospect that all nine justices could participate.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and state School Superintendent Ryan Walters said the fight is far from over. "There will be another case just like this one and Justice Barrett will break the tie," Stitt said.
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The court, following its custom, did not provide a breakdown of the votes. But during arguments last month, four conservative justices seemed likely to side with the school, while the three liberals seemed just as firmly on the other side.
That left Chief Justice John Roberts appearing to hold the key vote, and suggests he went with the liberals to make the outcome 4-4.
The backstory
The Catholic Church in Oklahoma had wanted taxpayers to fund the online charter school "faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ." Opponents warned that allowing it would blur the separation between church and state, sap money from public schools and possibly upend the rules governing charter schools in almost every state.
The case came to the court amid efforts, mainly in conservative-led states, to insert religion into public schools. Those include a challenged Louisiana requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms and a mandate from Oklahoma's state schools superintendent that the Bible be placed in public school classrooms.
St. Isidore, a K-12 online school, had planned to start classes for its first 200 enrollees last fall, with part of its mission to evangelize its students in the Catholic faith.
What they're saying
"Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer. While the Supreme Court's order is disappointing for educational freedom, the 4-4 decision does not set precedent, allowing the court to revisit this issue in the future," said Jim Campbell, who argued the case at the high court on behalf of Oklahoma's charter school board.
The other side
"The very idea of a religious public school is a constitutional oxymoron. The Supreme Court's ruling affirms that a religious school can't be a public school and a public school can't be religious," said Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, also a Republican, sued to stop the school. He called the 4-4 vote "a resounding victory for religious liberty" that also will ensure that "Oklahoma taxpayers will not be forced to fund radical Islamic schools, while protecting the religious rights of families to choose any school they wish for their children."
Dig deeper
A key unresolved issue is whether the school is public or private. Charter schools are deemed public in Oklahoma and the other 45 states and the District of Columbia where they operate. North Dakota recently enacted legislation allowing for charter schools.
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They are free and open to all, receive state funding, abide by antidiscrimination laws and submit to oversight of curriculum and testing. But they also are run by independent boards that are not part of local public school systems.
The Source
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
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