Supreme Court’s Stalemate Halts Religious Charter School in Oklahoma
In a pivotal moment for educational and religious policy, the U.S. Supreme Court has reached an impasse, effectively stopping the establishment of the first religious charter school in the United States. This development leaves intact the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling, which found that the proposed school violated the constitutional principle separating church and state.
The U.S. Supreme Court Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Supreme Court’s decision, or rather non-decision, came with a 4-4 vote, and notably, Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not participate. Her recusal was due to her previous involvement, while at the University of Notre Dame, with a legal clinic that advised St. Isidore, the Catholic school at the heart of the case.
Central to this legal struggle were two Catholic dioceses in Oklahoma, which sought to establish St. Isidore of Seville as a charter school funded by public money. This effort aimed to challenge existing federal and state laws mandating that charter schools, as public entities, must be non-sectarian.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court previously ruled that sanctioning a religious charter school would breach both state and federal constitutional prohibitions against government-supported religious indoctrination. This decision remains in force following the Supreme Court’s deadlock.
For further details, please refer to the original source here.
This is a developing story and will be updated
