Religious Schools Déjà Vu at the Supreme Court

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Nov. 2, 2026 6:00 pm ET | The Editorial Board

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Colorado makes families with traditional values choose: their beliefs or $6,300 per child?

This is getting old. Three times in the past decade the Supreme Court has vindicated religious schools excluded from state programs. Colorado still needs a remedial lesson. The state’s “universal” pre-K plan lets religious schools participate only if they agree to enroll families who oppose them on sex and gender. On Tuesday the Justices can reinforce religious liberty in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy.

The Colorado program, launched in 2023, pays for 15 hours of preschool a week, about $6,300 a year. Providers are subject to what the state calls “equal-opportunity requirements,” including enrollment without regard to religious affiliation, gender identity or sexual orientation. Two Catholic parishes, two parents, and the Denver archdiocese argue they’re being denied funds “solely on account of their religious exercise.”

The Catholic schools ask new parents to sign a statement on “Community Beliefs and Commitments,” as well as to refrain from publicly undermining the church. Colorado denied them an exemption from its enrollment rule. But does the First Amendment demand one? If that question prompts déjà vu, recall the High Court’s 2022 ruling in Carson v. Makin, rebuking Maine for unconstitutionally barring religious options in a state tuition program.

Colorado insists this is different, because it doesn’t target religion explicitly. Its program has included “more than forty faith-based providers,” and schools “may continue to teach and shape their curricula according to their faith.” The state says it has neutral nondiscrimination rules, while St. Mary wants tax dollars “without complying with those conditions—by, for example, excluding preschoolers based on their parents’ sexual orientation.”

Yet as St. Mary argues, the fact that Colorado gladly funds some faith-based...

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TOPICS: Education; Religion
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[E. Pluribus Unum]

Link to ChatGPT Summary

[ClearCase_guy]

The US Supreme Court is constantly overruled — by little district court judges, by state governors, by state legislatures, by anybody. The US Supreme Court has no genuine power. It cannot enforce any decision. The only people who fear a Supreme Court ruling are Republicans.

[Theophilus]

The state thinks it is God. The state must constantly be reminded that it is NOT God.