The U.S. Supreme Court has deadlocked 4-4 in a closely watched case over the use of public funding for a religious charter school in Oklahoma, effectively blocking state funds from going to what would have been the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school. The tie vote leaves in place a lower court ruling by the Oklahoma State Supreme Court, which determined that the funding would violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, particularly the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government endorsement of religion.
The case stemmed from a decision by the Oklahoma State Virtual Charter School Board to approve the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Catholic Charter School, operated by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and Diocese of Tulsa. The school, intended to serve about 500 students with a religious-based virtual curriculum, was set to receive $23.3 million in state funding over five years. The court’s unsigned one-page decision simply stated, “The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court,” and did not include a full opinion or list of votes. Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself without explanation, leaving eight justices to decide the matter.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who filed the original lawsuit to block the charter, hailed the ruling as a victory for religious liberty, arguing it prevented taxpayer funds from potentially supporting all religious institutions, including “radical Islamic schools.” In contrast, supporters of the school claimed the ruling amounted to religious discrimination and vowed to explore alternative methods to offer Catholic education virtually. This ruling does not set a national precedent, leaving the door open for future legal challenges related to the intersection of religion and public education, especially amid ongoing political debates over school choice, charter schools, and the role of religion in publicly funded institutions.
