Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond
Description: Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is seeking to cancel the contract the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board entered with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School solely because St. Isidore is Catholic. The board members took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that religious groups cannot be excluded from generally available programs solely because of their religious character.
ADF asks US Supreme Court to hear Oklahoma religious liberty case
WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board asked the U.S. Supreme Court Monday to hear the case Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in July that the board could not authorize a charter contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School solely because the school is religious.
The nation’s high court has repeatedly held that religious groups cannot be excluded from generally available programs solely because of their religious character.
“Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more choices, not fewer. There’s great irony in state officials who claim to be in favor of religious liberty discriminating against St. Isidore because of its Catholic beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler. “The U.S. Constitution protects St. Isidore’s freedom to operate according to its faith and supports the board’s decision to approve such learning options for Oklahoma families. Protecting the freedom of St. Isidore and other charter schools to operate according to their beliefs bolsters religious freedom across Oklahoma, which is why we are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take this important case.”
ADF attorneys opposed the lawsuit Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed in the Oklahoma Supreme Court to cancel the board’s contract with St. Isidore.
The petition filed with the U.S. Supreme Court explains that, as a result of the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision, “religious entities like St. Isidore and religious parents are being penalized for seeking to exercise their religion.” The case also implicates a circuit split over what qualifies as “state action.” And the Supreme Court’s “prompt intervention is needed to resolve the state-action split, ensure lower-court fidelity to [the Supreme] Court’s precedents, and restore essential constitutional protections.”
- Pronunciation guide: Sechler (SECK’-lur)
The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to protecting First Amendment and related freedoms for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.
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ABOUT Philip A. Sechler
Philip A. Sechler serves as senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, where he focuses on academic and religious freedom. Before joining ADF, Sechler had a long career in private practice, with substantial first-chair trial experience in courts around the country on a variety of complex litigation matters. He was also a Distinguished Visitor from Practice at Penn State Law School, where he spent four years teaching. He also taught at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University and at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he continues to teach a course on Professional Responsibility. Sechler received his bachelor’s degree with high distinction from Pennsylvania State University, and he earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated summa cum laude and was Editor-in-Chief of The Georgetown Law Journal. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Francis D. Murnaghan, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Sechler is admitted to practice before the District of Columbia and Virginia bars, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate and trial courts.