SCOTUS Declines To Nullify Lower Court Blockade On Establishing First Public Religious Charter School

In a stunning Thursday ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to nullify an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision blocking the establishment of the nation’s first public religious charter school. The final vote was deadlocked at 4-4, with Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing herself from the case.

The high court did not offer a written opinion on the matter or disclose which way each justice ruled.

The case first came to fruition in fall 2023, when the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board entered into a contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The agreement made the latter the “first religious public virtual charter school in the nation,” according to The Federalist Society.