OK governor, education groups voice support for religious charter school in SCOTUS appeal

Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, represented by ADF, receives broad support asking Supreme Court to review case

WASHINGTON – Multiple education groups, Oklahoma officials, and eight states have filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to hear the case Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board appealed an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that said the board could not authorize a charter contract with St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School solely because the school is religious.

Through ADF attorneys, the board opposed a lawsuit Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed in the Oklahoma Supreme Court to cancel the board’s contract with St. Isidore. It is the ruling in that lawsuit that ADF attorneys are taking to the nation’s high court. The U.S. Supreme 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. We appreciate the states, state officials, and education experts who have joined us in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take this important case.”

“The Oklahoma Supreme Court turned the Establishment Clause on its head,” says the multi-state brief led by South Carolina. “Rather than raise the Establishment Clause to shield religious observers from a state’s religious mandate, the Oklahoma Supreme Court weaponized it to single out and exclude religious observers from eligibility for a public benefit. And the religious observers’ Free Exercise rights were casualties of that exercise.”

“Governor Stitt is compelled to speak on behalf of Oklahomans through this Brief because the Oklahoma Attorney General has deprived them of a true advocate by launching this attack against their religious liberty and educational freedom,” adds the brief on behalf of Oklahoma Gov. J. Kevin Stitt. “Revealingly, the OAG has repeatedly justified the discriminatory exclusion of a Catholic institution from the benefit of a school charter with intolerance and open hostility toward other religions.”

• 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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Friend-of-the-court briefs filed with U.S. Supreme Court

• The Buckeye Institute
• Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence
• Classical Charter Schools of America, Pinnacle Classical Academy, and North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools
• Former Oklahoma Attorneys General John M. O'Connor and E. Scott Pruitt
• The General Council of the Assemblies of God, The Coalition for Jewish Values, and The Religious Freedom Institute
• The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, Abraham Knowledge Academy, and The Religious Freedom Institute
• The Manhattan Institute
• Oklahoma Governor J. Kevin Stitt
• Ryan Walters in his official capacity as Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Department of Education, and the Oklahoma State Board of Education
• States of South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, and Utah
• Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty