A recusal by conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has ensured that Oklahoma taxpayers will not have to pay for a religious public charter school.
Coney Barrett would have broken the 4-4 deadlock reached by the Court Thursday. Although she did not give a reason for her recusal, The New York Times speculated that the justice's "close friendship with Nicole Stelle Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who was an early adviser for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, the school involved in the dispute," may have contributed.
"The decision by the evenly divided court means that a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that said the proposal to launch St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School violates both the federal Constitution and state law remains in place," NBC News reported.
Coney Barrett is an extremely conservative and religious justice who analysts expected would have supported the school's case.
The lack of a majority vote means the court did not issue a written decision.
Read the NBC News report here.