The U.S. Supreme Court, which now has a 6-3 conservative majority, will hear three major religion cases this spring including one that asks if a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma — St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School — is constitutional.
On April 30, SCOTUS will be asked to consider if the state of Oklahoma must use government money to pay the religious charter school, which according to Oklahoma law, is public.
(The online school is operated by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa which will infuse Catholic teaching into its curriculum and plans to serve approximately 200 students a year.)
Yale Law professor Justin Driver told the New York Times: “This spring’s trio of religion cases threatens nothing less than to raze foundational structures of American law and life.”
He added, “The Supreme Court this term could quite plausibly destroy the American public school as we have known it for the last several decades. Of course, many conservatives will regard that destruction not as a vice, but a virtue.”
Note: SCOTUS Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the Oklahoma case without explanation, but the Times reports that she is “close friends” with Nicole Garnett, a Notre Dame law professor who has served as a legal adviser to St. Isidore and is the co-author of the 2014 book ‘Lost Classroom, Lost Community: Catholic Schools Importance in Urban America,’ which argues the presence of Catholic schools strengthens the community.
(Note: Garnett clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas during the 1998-1999 term.)
Rachel Laser, the president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said of the Oklahoma SCOTUS case: “It would be a sea change to allow public schools, or any schools that are directly funded with tax dollars, to be religious schools.” Laser added: “You’re talking about your neighborhood school becoming a Sunday school.”
Republican Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, opposed the religious charter school saying it violated the First Amendment and the state Constitution’s ban on spending public money to support religious institutions.
I agree with @GovStitt – Oklahoma parents deserve options over where to send their children to school and there is no reason why the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office should stand in their way. https://t.co/7HSadkDJd3
— Charles McCall (@CharlesMcCallOK) December 11, 2024
Note: Drummond is running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination against Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives Charles McCall and possibly State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who purchased Trump-branded Holy Bibles to include in public school classrooms, a move that was recently blocked by the state Supreme Court.
Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, who appointed Walters as Secretary of Public Education in 2020, is not eligible to run again due to term limits.
If the Supreme Court vote ends in a 4-4 tie, the Oklahoma court’s decision would remain intact.