CNN
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The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether states can deny public funding to religious charter schools, agreeing to hear arguments in an Oklahoma appeal involving the nation’s first religious charter school. .
St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School applied last year to join Oklahoma’s publicly funded charter school program. The state Supreme Court revoked the charter in June, ruling that charter schools must be nonsectarian and that St. Isidore “preach the Catholic faith as part of the school curriculum.”
The court’s decision could have significant national implications by making it easier for religious groups to apply for and receive public tax dollars for schools. The incident is being closely monitored by religious freedom groups.
“Oklahoma parents and children need more educational options, not fewer,” said Jim Campbell, chief legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious legal group representing the school. I would be happier if I had it.” “It is a great irony that state officials who claim to support religious freedom would discriminate against St. Isidore because of his Catholic faith.”
The court will likely hear arguments this spring and issue a decision by July. Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case without giving a reason.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has long blurred the lines between church and state, particularly in the field of education. In a series of decisions, the Supreme Court said states may not discriminate against religious schools when directing taxpayer funds to certain programs.
Several groups opposed to the school, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, asked the Supreme Court to uphold the state court’s ruling against the school.
“Turning public schools into Sunday schools would be a dangerous sea change for our democracy,” the organizations said in a joint statement.
The Oklahoma School and subsequent lawsuits divided conservatives. Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, filed one of the lawsuits against the school.
“Today, Oklahomans are being forced to fund Catholicism,” Drummond said in a statement last year. “Tomorrow we may be forced to fund radical Islamic teachings such as Sharia law.”
Mr. Drummond’s spokesman, Phil Bacharach, said in a brief statement that Mr. Drummond looks forward to arguing before the Supreme Court.
St. Isidore said Oklahoma’s charter school program “invites private educators to participate” and argued that denying religious schools the opportunity to participate amounts to “religious hostility.”
As the Supreme Court adds its final cases of the term, President Donald Trump’s administration signaled Friday that it may remove some.
Justice Department lawyers told the Supreme Court on Friday that the pending case, including one over California’s stricter vehicle emissions standards, is the first sign that the new administration is reconsidering its portfolio of cases at the nation’s highest court. The court requested a temporary stay on four of the appeals.
In a series of motions, Sarah Harris, the Trump administration’s acting attorney general, asked the Supreme Court to consider three environmental cases and one regarding student loan forgiveness if a borrower believes they have been defrauded by their college. requested that the briefing session be temporarily suspended.
Most important are the lawsuits from fuel companies challenging California’s ability to actually set vehicle admission standards relative to the rest of the country. President Trump rescinded states’ authority to set these standards, but President Joe Biden’s administration reinstated it. Friday’s filing is the latest sign that the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration is once again rolling back stricter emissions standards, likely rendering the underlying legal dispute before the Supreme Court moot.
“Following the change of administration, the acting EPA administrator determined that the agency needed to reevaluate the basis and soundness of the Biden administration’s decisions,” Harris wrote in the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The Supreme Court’s docket is, as always, filled with cases involving federal government decisions and regulations. Court watchers are closely watching for signs that the Trump administration may shift away from Biden in high-profile cases dealing with issues such as transgender rights and the Food and Drug Administration’s crackdown on flavored e-cigarette products. There is. It is not yet clear whether the new administration will take any action in such a case.
While President Trump has moved quickly to reverse Biden’s policy positions and executive actions, he may tread more carefully before the Supreme Court. At the Supreme Court, justices typically frown upon sudden changes from one administration to another.
