Legal Issue(s): NA
Case Description
The U.S. Supreme Court split evenly 4-4 (Justice Barrett recused herself) over whether a state can exclude a religious school from qualifying to be a taxpayer-funded charter school. In St. Isidore’s Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond, the Oklahoma Supreme Court had ruled the school could not be so permitted, even though the state charter school board had found St. Isidore’s qualified and had issued it a contract. Because the Supreme Court split, that means the lower state court decision stands. Such a split decision, however, carries no weight as precedent. Moreover, the Supreme Court issued no opinion, so there is no reasoning nor any idea of how each justice voted.
Bottom line: the issue of religious school participation as a charter school remains undecided.
