Classroom culture wars permeated oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday in a case that could change the boundary between church and state.
The court heard arguments for Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, which could allow the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School to contract with the state of Oklahoma and receive public funds. Conservative justices signaled they’re open to allowing the public funds. Along the way, justices repeatedly brought up hypothetical situations that echoed issues that have come up on the campaign trail.
“What would you do with a charter school that doesn’t want to teach evolution or doesn’t want to teach history, including the history of slavery, or doesn’t want to include having children of another faith in them, as this one does?” Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked a lawyer representing the school and charter school board’s side of the case.
Sotomayor asked her question in the context of recent efforts by Republicans to implement a school curriculum that glosses over slavery.
“Could a school say we’re going to be … [an] LGBTQ+ friendly school, so that the books that elementary school children are going to read are going to have lots of LGBTQ+ characters, same-sex couples, and they are going to send the message that this is a perfectly legitimate lifestyle?” Justice Samuel Alito asked Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s lawyer, Gregory Garre.
“They’re going to tell the little kids …your parents may say you’re a boy or a girl, but that doesn’t mean you really are a boy or a girl,” Alito went on. “Could they do that?”
Garre was quick to respond no.
“And the reason why they couldn’t is because state law prohibits the teaching of gender studies or race in public schools, traditional public schools and charter schools,” Garre said.
Garre sat at the same table in the courtroom as his client. Drummond opposes state funding for the school because of the door it could open to government funding for “all manner of religious indoctrination.”
It wasn’t the only instance that Garre touted Oklahoma’s conservative bona fides while on the stand.
He brought up that charter schools “can’t teach what other public schools can’t teach, which is critical race or …gender theories” later in arguments, in response to a question from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh interrupted him.
“You’re a little far afield, I think, from the chief’s question, at least as I understand it,” Kavanaugh said.
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Em Luetkemeyer is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Oklahoma Watch.