Supreme Court will consider the validity of the nation’s first Christian charter school

By Oliver

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Supreme Court will consider the validity of the nation's first Christian charter school

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear arguments in an Oklahoma appeal involving the country’s first religious charter school on whether states can refuse to fund them.

Last year, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School applied to participate in Oklahoma’s charter school program, which would allow it to receive public funding.

The state’s highest court overturned the approval in June, ruling that charter schools must be non-sectarian and that St. Isidore would “evangelize the Catholic faith as part of its school curriculum.”

The court’s decision could have far-reaching national implications by making it easier for religious organizations to apply for and receive public funds for schools. Religious freedom advocates have been keeping a close eye on the case.

“Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer,” said Jim Campbell, chief legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious legal organization that represents the school.

“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 court is likely to hear arguments this spring and make a decision before July. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative, recused herself from the case without explanation.

For years, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has blurred the separation of church and state, particularly in education. In a series of rulings, the Supreme Court has stated that states may not discriminate against religious schools when allocating taxpayer funds for specific programs.

Several groups opposed to the school, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State, urged the Supreme Court to uphold the state’s court ruling against it.

“Converting public schools into Sunday schools would be a dangerous sea change for our democracy,” the organizations said in a joint statement.

The Oklahoma school and the subsequent litigation divided conservatives. Oklahoma’s Republican Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, filed one of the lawsuits challenging the school.

“Today, Oklahomans are being compelled to fund Catholicism,” Drummond stated last year. “Tomorrow we may be forced to fund radical Muslim teachings like Sharia law.”

Drummond’s spokesman, Phil Bacharach, said in a brief statement that the office is looking forward to making its arguments before the Supreme Court.

St. Isidore argued that Oklahoma’s charter school program “invited private educators to participate” and that denying religious schools the opportunity to participate constituted “religious hostility.”

Trump administration asks court to pause Biden-era appeals

As the Supreme Court considers its final cases for the current term, President Donald Trump’s administration hinted Friday that some may be removed.

On Friday, Justice Department attorneys asked the Supreme Court to pause action on four pending appeals, including one involving California’s strict vehicle emissions rules, in the first sign that the new administration is reconsidering its portfolio of cases before the country’s highest court.

Sarah Harris, the Trump administration’s acting solicitor general, urged the Supreme Court in a series of filings to pause briefing in three environmental cases and one involving student loan forgiveness when borrowers believe they were defrauded by a university.

The most significant is an appeal from fuel companies challenging California’s ability to effectively set vehicle admissions standards for the rest of the country.

Trump removed the state’s authority to set those standards, but President Joe Biden’s administration reinstated it.

The filing on Friday is the latest indication that the Environmental Protection Agency under Trump will withdraw the tougher emissions standards again, likely rendering the underlying legal dispute at the Supreme Court moot.

“After the change in administration, the EPA’s acting administrator has determined that the agency should reassess the basis for and soundness of” the Biden administration decision, Harris informed the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s docket is, as usual, stacked with cases involving federal government decisions and regulations.

Court observers have been keeping an eye out for signs that the Trump administration may reverse Biden’s position in high-profile cases involving transgender rights.

such as the Food and Drug Administration’s crackdown on flavored vaping products. It is unclear whether the new administration will take action in these cases.

Trump has moved quickly to reverse Biden’s policy positions and executive actions, but he may proceed more cautiously at the Supreme Court, where justices generally dislike abrupt shifts from administration to administration.

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