Supreme Court’s conservative majority open to endorsing the use of state funds for a Catholic charter school

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Wednesday seemed open to backing the creation of a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma, a decision that would expand the availability of taxpayer money for religious education in school systems across the nation.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Wednesday seemed open to backing the creation of a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma, a decision that would expand the availability of taxpayer money for religious education in school systems across the nation. During more than two hours of at times feisty arguments, the court’s conservative justices pressed an attorney opposed to the creation of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School about how his position could be squared with a series of recent precedents that have eroded the proverbial wall that for decades separated church from state. But Chief Justice John Roberts, who asked difficult questions of both sides, clearly emerged as a central figure. That is particularly true given that one member of the court’s conservative wing, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, recused herself in the case. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, at one point, suggested that opposition to the school looked like “rank discrimination against religion.” “All the religious school is saying is ‘don’t exclude us on account of our religion,’” Kavanaugh said. “Our cases have made very clear – and I think those are some of the most important cases we’ve had – of saying you can’t treat religious people and religions institutions and religions speech as second class in the United States.” Key to the arguments – and the ultimate decision – will be Roberts. At one point, the chief justice suggested the state’s involvement in overseeing charter schools was far greater than in similar cases, in which, the court ruled that the state couldn’t exclude religious schools from government programs.