A 4-4 Supreme Court tie just derailed Oklahoma’s effort to empower a Catholic virtual charter school with public funding, as the New York Post reports.
In June 2023, Oklahoma’s Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to approve St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, but Thursday’s deadlock upheld a state ruling blocking it, leaving faith-based education unfairly restricted.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s recusal, tied to her Notre Dame connections, tipped the scales, denying religious schools a fair shot at serving families.
The board’s approval of St. Isidore’s offered hope for parents seeking values-driven education, backed by Gov. Kevin Stitt and Trump allies who value religious freedom.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s lawsuit to stop it leaned on tired arguments about church-state separation, ignoring the real issue: parental choice.
His fearmongering about funding “radical” groups is a distraction—St. Isidore’s aims to nurture students, not push extreme agendas.
St. Isidore’s countered with a lawsuit against Drummond, leading to April 2025 Supreme Court arguments that spotlighted the First Amendment’s promise of religious liberty.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh rightly argued that excluding the school for its faith is discrimination, plain and simple.
Banning religious schools from public funds doesn’t protect neutrality—it punishes families who want education aligned with their beliefs.
Most conservative justices rallied behind St. Isidore’s, seeing an opportunity to shield religious liberty from secular overreach.
Chief Justice John Roberts referenced a past case, asking why religious schools should face harsher rules than faith-based adoption agencies.
It’s a fair question—treating religious education as a pariah while secular schools push their own ideologies is rank hypocrisy.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor claimed St. Isidore’s students would be forced to adopt Catholic teachings, missing the point that parents choose these schools willingly.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson labeled it a “religious public school,” as if charters aren’t built on choice, not coercion.
Their arguments reek of bias, sidelining faith-based options while secular schools indoctrinate with unchecked progressive ideals.
