Latest news with #NotreDameLawSchool
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Four Supreme Court Justices Refuse to Read the First Amendment
Four Supreme Court Justices wanted to make it legal for taxpayer dollars to fund religious charter schools. The Supreme Court produced a 4–4 deadlock on Thursday on the question of whether an Oklahoma religious school could take part in the state's publicly funded charter school programs. While the decision is unsigned, thanks to the even split, it is likely that Chief Justice Roberts sided with liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Elena Kagan in opposition to the measure, while conservatives Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito likely voted in favor of allowing religious charter schools access to public funds. Justice Amy Comey Barret recused herself due to attorneys from her alma mater, Notre Dame Law School, representing the religious schools. The deadlock leaves in place an Oklahoma ruling that a Catholic public charter school is unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court sidestepped the question, deferring to the lower court decision. The four judges who voted in favor of the measure seem to be ignoring that earmarking public funds for religious schools is a clear violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment. This clause prohibits the government from 'establishing' a religion and from blurring the lines between separation of church and state. To determine what violates the establishment clause, the court carries out a 'Lemon test,' originating from the 1971 Supreme Court case Lemon v. Kurtzman. It states that the government can partner with a religious entity only if '(1) the primary purpose of the assistance is secular, (2) the assistance must neither promote nor inhibit religion, and (3) there is no excessive entanglement between church and state.' 'The fact that the Court split 4–4 in this case, with Justice Barrett recused, is not especially surprising,' said CNN Supreme Court Analyst Steve Vladeck. 'The surprise is that the court had agreed to take this case up, with Justice Barrett recused, in the first place. That had led some folks to wonder if Chief Justice Roberts might be willing to join the other four Republican appointees in favor of public funding for religious charter schools. Today's affirmance without an opinion suggests that he isn't, at least for now.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Supreme Court derails taxpayer-funded Catholic school in major First Amendment case
Oklahoma won't be able to open the country's first-ever taxpayer-funded religious public charter school after a surprise tie from the Supreme Court. A 4-4 decision, with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing, avoids a major ruling on First Amendment protections and the separation of church and state. There was no written decision. A single-page announcement of the court's tie did not note which justices voted in support or against the state. The court did not explain Barrett's recusal, but the Donald Trump-appointed justice has ties with Notre Dame Law School, where she earned her law degree. The law school's religious liberty clinic represents the charter school in this case. A lack of a decision means lower court decisions against the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School will stand, with the school violating the Constitution and state law. 'The Supreme Court's stalemate safeguards public education and upholds the separation of church and state,' according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State president Rachel Laser. 'Charter schools are public schools that must be secular and serve all students,' she added. 'St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which planned to discriminate against students, families, and staff and indoctrinate students into one religion, cannot operate as a public charter school. A religious public school would be an abject violation of religious freedom.' The school, backed by Oklahoma's Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, triggered a high-profile legal battle to decide whether public funds can be used to create religious schools, setting up a major test to the First Amendment's establishment clause, which prevents the government from endorsing any religion, as well as the free exercise clause, which bars religious discrimination. Oklahoma's schools, under the direction of controversial superintendent Ryan Walters, have emerged as a testing ground for a growing movement to integrate religion and conservative politics into public education. Last year, Oklahoma's highest court said the school's contract would 'create a slippery slope and what the framers' warned against — the destruction of Oklahomans' freedom to practice religion without fear of governmental intervention.' The school is an 'instrument of the Catholic church, operated by the Catholic church, and will further the evangelizing mission of the Catholic church in its educational programs,' state justices wrote. A decision on Oklahoma's proposal follows a wave of attempts from Republican lawmakers and conservative special interest groups to move public funds into religious education, dovetailing with efforts within the Trump administration and across the country to let families use taxpayer funds to send their children to private school. In 2023, the nation's highest court ruled that the state of Maine cannot exclude private Christian schools from a taxpayer-funded school voucher program that helps students attend private schools, which critics feared could have broader implications over whether the government is obligated to support religious institutions on the same level as private ones. Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent in that case warned that the Supreme Court 'continues to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the Framers fought to build.' 'The consequences of the Court's rapid transformation of the Religion Clauses must not be understated,' she wrote at the time.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Supreme Court blocks Oklahoma from launching taxpayer-funded religious charter school
The Supreme Court on Thursday, in a rare deadlocked 4-4 ruling, said Oklahoma cannot create the nation's first religious charter school funded directly with taxpayer dollars. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic, did not take part in the decision, recusing from the case early on, presumably given her ties to the Notre Dame Law School clinic that supported the Catholic archdiocese's effort to create the school, but she did not explain her decision. The Supreme Court issued a one-line opinion upholding the Oklahoma Supreme Court's ruling that taxpayer-funded religious schools would violate both the state and U.S. constitutions. "The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court," the Supreme Court wrote in an unsigned ruling, so it is not known how each justice voted on the issue. The court action leaves in place lower court rulings that said the arrangement would have violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. MORE: Supreme Court to decide if Oklahoma religious charter school is constitutional The decision is a setback for a religious freedom movement that has notched major gains in recent years under the Supreme Court's current conservative majority, including rulings allowing the use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers, scholarships, and capital improvement grants by religious organizations. First Liberty, a major religious right advocacy group behind faith-based cases at the high court, represented the Oklahoma state school superintendent, Ryan Walters, who was pushing for religious charters. Walters vowed to keep fighting for them. "Allowing the exclusion of religious schools from our charter school program in the name of 19th century religious bigotry is wrong," said Walters. "As state superintendent, I will always stand with parents and families in opposition to religious discrimination and fight until all children in Oklahoma are free to choose the school that serves them best, religious or otherwise." The Supreme Court ruling is almost certainly not the final word on the issue, however. Because the high court divided evenly, its decision is not a binding precedent nationwide and sets the stage for the entire court to reconsider the issue in a future case, perhaps from another state. The decision is being greeted with relief by advocates for public schools and independent charter schools, who feared that a ruling in favor of St. Isidore of Seville, the Oklahoma Catholic school, would create major disruptions to education systems nationwide. Forty-five states have charter school programs, encompassing 8,000 schools that serve 3.8 million kids. Some states, opposed to funding of religious charter schools, had warned they may be forced to curtail their charter programs or end them entirely. The American Federation of Teachers, which filed an amicus brief in the two related cases before the court, celebrated the court's block of taxpayer-funded religious charter schools. "Today, the court let the decision of the Oklahoma Supreme Court stand, which correctly upheld the separation of church and state and backed the founders' intention to place religious pluralism over sectarianism," AFT President Randi Weingarten said. "We are pleased that four of the justices agreed that we must preserve and nurture the roots of our democracy, not tear up its very foundations." 'We respect and honor religious education. It should be separate from public schooling," Weingarten added. "Public schools, including public charter schools, are funded by taxpayer dollars because they are dedicated to helping all—not just some—children have a shot at success. They are the bedrock of our democracy, and states have long worked to ensure that they remain secular, open and accessible to all." ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report. Supreme Court blocks Oklahoma from launching taxpayer-funded religious charter school originally appeared on
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Deadlocked Supreme Court won't allow nation's first public religious charter school
The Supreme Court deadlocked Thursday on whether openly religious schools are entitled under the Constitution to receive public money through state charter-school programs. By splitting 4-4 on the question, the justices left in place a lower-court ruling in Oklahoma denying public funding to what would have been the nation's first religious public charter school. But the deadlock sets no precedent on the issue to guide officials in the rest of the country — and supporters of religious charter schools promised they would try to bring additional litigation to the high court. The court was short-handed because Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who has ties to a clinic at Notre Dame Law School that advised the Catholic Oklahoma school, recused from the case. It's unclear whether she would participate if the issue came before the court again in another case. The court's one-page judgment did not specify how individual justices voted, but it appears likely that a conservative justice sided with the court's three liberal justices to produce the deadlock. The case centered on St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, an online-only institution that wanted to launch as a state-funded charter school. Opponents argued that state funding for the school would violate the Constitution's ban on government-established religion. Supporters of the school pointed to a series of cases in recent years in which the Supreme Court has allowed or required state governments to fund private religious institutions on par with non-religious ones. But during oral arguments last month, Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that allowing the day-to-day operations of a religious school to be part of a state-run program could create greater entanglement between church and state. 'Those involved fairly discrete state involvement,' Roberts said, referring to the earlier cases involving private schools. 'This does strike me as a much more comprehensive involvement.' Opponents of St. Isidore said allowing a religious, publicly funded school would create thorny questions related to potential discrimination in hiring and admissions, as well as how the school would deal with teachers, parents and students who might disagree with Catholic religious teachings. St. Isidore said it would conform to the state's curriculum guidelines, but critics said that if the school were approved, other religious groups would request their own schools and some would seek deviations from the public curriculum. 'We are disappointed that the Oklahoma State Supreme Court's decision was upheld in a 4-4 decision without explanation,' St. Isidore's board said in a statement Thursday. 'We remain firm in our commitment to offering an outstanding education to families and students across the state of Oklahoma,' the board said. 'In light of this ruling, we are exploring other options for offering a virtual Catholic education to all persons in the state.' Last year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that directing taxpayer funds to a religious charter school would violate the state constitution and charter-school statute, as well as the U.S. Constitution. Thursday's deadlock has the effect of affirming the Oklahoma court ruling. It's a major victory for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican who urged the courts to reverse a state charter board's approval to open St. Isidore. Drummond warned that funding the Catholic school would open the door to demands for similar treatment for Muslim-run schools. 'This ruling ensures 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,' Drummond said in a statement on Thursday. Americans United for Separation of Church and State applauded the outcome. 'The Supreme Court's stalemate safeguards public education and upholds the separation of church and state,' the group's president and CEO, Rachel Laser, said in a statement. 'We will continue our efforts to protect inclusive public education. We call on this nation to recommit to church-state separation before this safeguard of democracy and freedom is further attacked.' Conservative groups from around the country had weighed in to defend St. Isidore with the hope of creating a test case that would change the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendment's establishment clause — and clear the way for a new form of public education that supporters argued would advance religious freedom and school choice. However, the outcome Thursday produced no majority or dissenting opinions to guide lower courts or future litigants. Under Supreme Court rules, when the justices divide equally, the lower court ruling under review is upheld but no national precedent is set for future cases. "This 4-4 tie is a non-decision. Now we're in overtime,' Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement. 'There will be another case just like this one and Justice Barrett will break the tie. This is far from a settled issue. We are going to keep fighting for parents' rights to instill their values in their children and against religious discrimination."
22-05-2025
- Politics
Supreme Court blocks Oklahoma from launching taxpayer-funded religious charter school
The Supreme Court on Thursday, in a rare deadlocked 4-4 ruling, said Oklahoma cannot create the nation's first religious charter school funded directly with taxpayer dollars. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Catholic, did not take part in the decision, recusing from the case early on, presumably given her ties to the Notre Dame Law School clinic that supported the Catholic archdiocese's effort to create the school, but she did not explain her decision. The Supreme Court issued a one-line opinion upholding the Oklahoma Supreme Court's ruling that taxpayer-funded religious schools would violate both the state and U.S. constitutions. "The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court," the Supreme Court wrote in an unsigned ruling, so it is not known how each justice voted on the issue. The court action leaves in place lower court rulings that said the arrangement would have violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court is seen, April 7, 2025 in decision is a setback for a religious freedom movement that has notched major gains in recent years under the Supreme Court's current conservative majority, including rulings allowing the use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers, scholarships, and capital improvement grants by religious organizations. The ruling is almost certainly not the final word on the issue, however. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett attends President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol, March 4, Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images Because the Supreme Court divided evenly, its decision is not a binding precedent nationwide and sets the stage for the entire court to reconsider the issue in a future case, perhaps from another state. The decision is being greeted with relief by advocates for public schools and independent charter schools, who feared that a ruling in favor of St. Isidore of Seville, the Oklahoma Catholic school, would create major disruptions to education systems nationwide. Forty-five states have charter school programs, encompassing 8,000 schools that serve 3.8 million kids. Some states, opposed to funding of religious charter schools, had warned they may be forced to curtail their charter programs or end them entirely. ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
