An evenly divided Supreme Court on Thursday upheld an Oklahoma court ruling that halted what would have been the nation’s first religious charter school.
In a 4-4 decision, the justices upheld an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that stopped the opening of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in Oklahoma City.
The tied decision leaves in place the state court ruling against the school and the state’s charter school board.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case, leaving only eight justices to rule on the issue. Court watchers speculated that she knows one of the advocates involved in the dispute.
The per curiam decision was unsigned and did not provide an explanation.
The issue of whether a state can authorize a religious charter school may return to the high court in the future.
The legal battle began when Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond denied St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School a place among the state’s charter schools, citing the religious nature of its curriculum.
Oklahoma said the school, in becoming a charter, would be a “public” actor, which would run afoul of the Constitution’s prohibition on government endorsing a religion.
The school and its backers said they were being treated differently than other charter school applicants because of their religion. They argued that it amounts to unconstitutional discrimination against its right to free exercise of religion.
But the justices did not analyze those arguments and simply delivered on Thursday a statement affirming the lower court’s decision to keep the Catholic charter school closed.
The two cases, which were consolidated, were Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond.
