The U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on Thursday, effectively blocking Oklahoma from launching the nation’s first religious public charter school. The decision leaves in place an earlier Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that said St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School violates both the federal Constitution and state law.
The deadlock followed Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s recusal, likely due to her connection to Notre Dame Law School, whose religious liberty clinic represents the school. Without a majority, the Court issued no opinion, and the case sets no national precedent.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond had sued to stop the school, opposing fellow Republicans who supported it. The state board had approved the school in 2023, prompting legal challenges over potential violations of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
Supporters cited recent Free Exercise Clause rulings to argue religious schools should not be excluded from state-funded programs. Critics say the case is part of a broader push by school choice advocates to divert public funding from traditional education.
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