Overview

• The U.S. Supreme Court’s 4-4 split leaves in place an Oklahoma ruling that blocked St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School from operating as a taxpayer-funded religious charter school.
• Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself due to connections with Notre Dame Law School, resulting in the tie and lack of a majority decision.
• The Oklahoma Supreme Court previously ruled that funding St. Isidore would violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and state laws requiring charter schools to be nonsectarian.
• This decision does not resolve the broader legal question of whether religious charter schools can receive public funding, leaving the issue open for future cases.
• St. Isidore sought to become the nation’s first religious charter school, highlighting tensions between the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses.