The case has triggered fierce debate over the role of religion in publicly funded education and sharply divided Republican officials in Oklahoma. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and the Trump administration support the school’s creation, while Republican state Attorney General Gentner Drummond argues it violates constitutional limits on government involvement in religion.

Kavanaugh wonders if Oklahoma AG is engaging in ‘rank discrimination’ against religion

The court’s conservative justices appeared open to the idea that excluding religious applicants from a state’s charter school program could amount to “rank discrimination,” as Justice Brett Kavanaugh put it.

“Justice Gorsuch pointed out earlier, a state could easily design a different kind of charter school system where they really were government-run, government-controlled, government-created, government-established private charter schools,” Kavanaugh said.

“That’s not what some states have. They open it up to private people to apply, and then when you say to someone, ‘You’re no good because you’re religious,’ they’re not asking for special treatment, they’re not asking for favoritism. They’re just saying, ‘Don’t treat us worse because we’re religious.’ That just seems like a core principle,” he said.

Drummond, however, has maintained that Oklahoma’s charter schools function as public schools and must, therefore, remain secular. In a brief to the Supreme Court, he wrote that allowing religious instruction in a state-funded charter school would run afoul of the establishment clause.

Oklahoma’s Supreme Court agreed in a 6–2 ruling last year, holding that the charter would make St. Isidore a “governmental entity” acting as “a surrogate of the state.”

James Campbell, representing the Oklahoma Charter School Board, countered that St. Isidore is a private initiative run by a religious nonprofit organization with full control over its curriculum and leadership. “Under this court’s test, Saint Isidore is neither the government nor engaged in state action,” Campbell said.

Chief Justice John Roberts struck a more cautious tone, noting that past religious liberty cases concerned more limited benefits, such as playground upgrades or school tuition reimbursement. “This does strike me as a much more comprehensive involvement,” Roberts said.

The court’s liberal bloc, led by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, raised sharp concerns over whether religious charter schools could impose doctrinal restrictions on students or exclude certain teachings.

“We’re not going to pay religious leaders to teach their religion,” Sotomayor said bluntly.

A decision in the case is expected by the end of June. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a former professor at Notre Dame Law School, recused herself without explanation. The school is represented in part by Notre Dame’s religious liberty clinic.

How will the justices decide?

Based on the oral arguments Wednesday morning, it appears at least three of the Democratic-appointed justices seemed inclined to undo the state Supreme Court’s decision last year.

OKLAHOMA ATTORNEY GENERAL BREAKS GOP RANKS IN CATHOLIC CHARTER SCHOOL LEGAL FIGHT

But with some boisterous skepticism from members of the high court, including Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch, it might come down to whether Roberts is willing to form a 5-3 decision.

If the case deadlocks at 4-4, it could spell trouble for St. Isidore’s future in Oklahoma.