In a 4-4 deadlock, the U.S. Supreme Court has shut down a push to open the country’s first publicly funded religious charter school in Oklahoma.
The effort, led by two Catholic dioceses, aimed to launch St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School—a school that would have been funded by taxpayers but rooted in Catholic teaching.
Because Justice Amy Coney Barrett sat out the case, the court’s tie left a lower court’s ruling in place. That decision, by Oklahoma’s top court, said the school would cross the line between church and state.
In that ruling, the Oklahoma Supreme Court made it clear: using public money for a religious school would break the First Amendment, which bars government entanglement with religion.
The fight was over more than just one school. Backers hoped to set a national precedent allowing religious groups to tap into charter school funding.
For now, that door remains closed.
