On a robust front in the world of church-state separation, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an Oklahoma case that may set a monumental precedent for religious freedom and free exercise.
The legal battle comes after the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board (OSCSB) approved an application to give state support to a proposed St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.
The school would be online but would not hinder any aspect of the Catholic faith as it taught students, sparking controversy over the concept of church-state separation.
Mainly, the law is concerned with whether the state’s public funds for a religious charter school violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from officially establishing a religion.
Those against the move made by the OSCSB, namely Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond who filed lawsuits against the board, claim schools with public funds must be free from any religion.
“In court filings that the state constitution explicitly requires public schools to be ‘free from sectarian control’ and that no public money should ever be used to support religious institutions,” according to NBC News.
Attorney General Drummond’s arguments also brought up that a state charter for a Catholic school could open the door to the state being obligated to support a multitude of other religious schools.
“‘Today, Oklahomans are being compelled to fund Catholicism,’ Drummond said in a statement last year. ‘Tomorrow we may be forced to fund radical Muslim teachings like Sharia law,’” per CNN.
Last year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against the religious school receiving taxpayer money. The Sooner State’s high court stated that if private educational institutions receive public funds, they essentially become public schools and must adhere to the Establishment Clause.
“But the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled last year that charter schools – which use taxpayer money but have private operators − are public schools and state law requires public education to be secular,” according to USA Today.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal group representing the school and the Statewide Charter School Board, argues that not allowing the school to partake in state funds treads on the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause, articulated by Jim Campbell, who is chief legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom.
“Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer…There’s great irony in state officials who claim to be in favor of religious liberty discriminating against St. Isidore because of its Catholic beliefs.”
The defense also received support from Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, who filed a brief that stated St. Isidore’s Catholic Virtual School will only help with parental educational choice and expand Oklahoma’s encouragement of religious freedom. The governor also mentioned the legal battle could redefine First Amendment principles as we know it.
“After the court agreed to hear the case, Stitt said it ‘stands to be one of the most significant religious and education freedom decisions in our lifetime.”
“‘We’ve seen ugly religious intolerance from opponents of the education freedom movement, but I look forward to seeing our religious liberties protected both in Oklahoma and across the country,’ he said in a statement,” according to USA Today.
Yale Law School professor Justin Driver stated to the New York Times a similar sentiment: this Supreme Court decision carries decades of legal precedent and weight behind it, as the case “would represent nothing less than a sea change in constitutional law.”
“‘It is difficult to overstate the significance of this opinion for our constitutional order and the larger American society,’ Mr. Driver said.”
Read about the case from CNN, NBC, USA Today.
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