The Supreme Court Case on Public Religious Charter Schools Has Republicans Split

A coming Supreme Court case has divided some powerful Republicans into three camps: those who want to reinforce the wall between church and state, those who want to tear it down and those who would rather avoid taking any side at all.

The case, Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, is scheduled for a hearing on April 30. Depending on the ultimate decision, it could establish the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school by allowing the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to contract with the state of Oklahoma. Last year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the school violated the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, as well as Oklahoma law, which requires charter schools to be “nonsectarian.”

Those supporting the school have argued in briefs submitted to the court that it would not be a state actor and denying it a contract with the state is religious discrimination. Opponents argue the school would open the door to the government endorsing one religion over others or funding indoctrination in the classroom.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who is now also running for governor, is one of those opponents. He sued the charter school board in 2023 over its contract with the school.

“This unconstitutional scheme to create the nation’s first state-sponsored religious charter school will open the floodgates and force taxpayers to fund all manner of religious indoctrination, including radical Islam or even the Church of Satan,” Drummond said of St. Isidore.

Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma told NOTUS in February that he thinks Drummond is looking at the case “purely from a law standpoint” and has cast his personal opinion aside.

“He has a responsibility to the state, and I think he sees his role as a state’s attorney general to push back on this,” Hern said of Drummond.

On the other end is Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and the superintendent of Oklahoma schools, Ryan Walters, who has taken many opportunities to curry favor with the MAGA base as he looks toward his own political future. Walters wrote an amicus brief in support of the school and told NOTUS the state is “leading the fight to tear down the left’s wall between church and state — and we won’t apologize for it.”

“This case is about one thing: the right of families to choose a faith-based education without government interference. We are working closely with allies across the country to build the legal and political strategy to win,” Walters said in a statement. “Leftist radicals have joined forces with some moderate Republicans to support state backed atheism. Oklahoma is setting the standard, and we’re proud to be out front in this fight.”

Oklahoma pollster Pat McFerron found in data he collected in 2023 that the state’s Republican voters were split on the “pretty divisive” issue of religious charter schools. Because voters are divided, McFerron said he expects “most successful political figures will try to stay away” from weighing in on the case.

“Drummond obviously has a passion for it, and so do Stitt and Ryan Walters on the other side, and so I think others are generally trying to stay out of it,” McFerron told NOTUS.

State-level lawmakers have largely been absent from the list of amicus briefs.

“Typically, when Oklahoma has a case, or there’s a case that’s impacting Oklahoma, we see a number of state lawmakers run to file amicus on this one way or the other, and I’m not seeing that,” Tyler Powell, an Oklahoma-based political adviser, told NOTUS.

Powell pointed to the 2018 election cycle as a reason for this, which was on the tail of a “massive” nine-day teacher walkout at the state capitol, and many state-level lawmakers ran on “pro-public education” platforms. About half of the school districts in the state closed during the strike.

A group of conservative senators have weighed in at the national level. Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Ted Budd of North Carolina and Ted Cruz of Texas also submitted an amicus brief in March supporting the school.

“The Oklahoma Charter Schools Act, by excluding religious organizations from participation, not only violates the First Amendment but also undermines the significant contributions that religious organizations make to public projects more generally,” they wrote. “This exclusion is not only legally indefensible but also practically detrimental to the common good and social fabric of America.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has leaned into school choice and established the White House Faith Office to root out perceived bias against Christians within the federal government.

Asked about the St. Isidore case, White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers pivoted to what Trump has already done. Trump, she said in a statement, has delivered “on his promise to dismantle the Department of Education and redirect power to the states and parents, giving America’s children the education they deserve.”

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Em Luetkemeyer is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.