Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor sharply criticized fellow Justice Clarence Thomas in a heated Supreme Court case that opened the door for religious groups to impose what’s taught in public schools.
The case centered on religious parents who wanted their children excused from public school lessons that mentioned LGBTQ+ topics — including a book with a gay uncle. The Court’s conservative majority ruled 6–3 in favor of the parents. But Thomas wanted to go even further: he argued that public schools should only be allowed to teach subjects rooted in a long-standing “history and tradition.”
Sotomayor fired back hard in her dissent, warning that Thomas’s view would allow religious groups to dictate what kids can and can’t learn — and gut modern education in the process.
“That approach fails to appreciate the constantly evolving nature of education,” she wrote. “Classes on computer literacy, robotics, and film studies, to take just a few examples, are modern developments.”
She reminded the Court what public school used to look like. “In the early 19th century, moreover, ‘the common curriculum usually included a handful of elementary subjects,’ such as ‘reading, writing, and arithmetic.’”
Then she called out Thomas directly: “Under Justice Thomas’ test, it appears, schools may have no compelling interest in teaching anything beyond those topics.”
She pushed the question further: “Should courts limit their inquiry to the founding era or the 19th century for guidance on which topics schools have a sufficiently compelling interest in teaching for purposes of this ‘history and tradition’ test?”
Sotomayor didn’t just see the danger in this one case — she saw a wider threat. “What of the parent who wants his child’s curriculum stripped of any mention of women working outside the home, sincerely averring that such activity conflicts with the family’s religious beliefs?” she asked.
She warned that the ruling “strikes at the core premise of public schools: that children may come together to learn not the teachings of a particular faith, but a range of concepts and views that reflect our entire society.”
Sotomayor believes this decision gives religious groups the power to shape — or block — what students learn in public schools, undermining the very idea of equal, secular education.
She closed her dissent with a stark warning: “The reverberations of the Court’s error will be felt, I fear, for generations. Unable to condone that grave misjudgment, I dissent.”
