The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 4-4 over an Oklahoma case involving religious public charter schools. Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case due to a conflict.
MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin explained on air that a tie at the court means that the lower court verdict holds. The lower court ruled against Oklahoma.
"The ultimate result here is that Saint Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which wanted accreditation as a charter school under Oklahoma law, will not be established," said Rubin. "And that's despite the fact that the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board wanted to authorize it as a charter school. This case pitted the attorney general of Oklahoma, a Republican, against the charter school board and the governor of Oklahoma, also a Republican. And what I would call, sort of, the clash of the free exercise clause and the establishment clause."
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University of Michigan Law School Professor Leah Litman told MSNBC that the ripple effects will be "enormous."
She noted that during the oral arguments, a lawyer on the opposite side of the Oklahoma case argued that establishing a religious school as public would have "jeopardized the charter school system in 40-something states as well as the federal charter school system. And what it would mean is in any state that operates a charter system that allows for secular public charter schools, those states could have been required to create religious public charter schools as well."
"It's just a dramatic illustration of how far and how much the law has changed under this court, because previously, it used to be the case that the establishment clause and separation of church and state prohibited states from operating religious schools," she added.
"This guarantees that another case will be brought where ACB doesn't have a conflict, and it will be 5-4 conservative decision," said civil litigator Owen Barcala on Bluesky.
University of Michigan Law School Professor Barb McQuade similarly pointed out the ruling was, "only because Barrett’s recusal resulted in 4-4 tie."
"Aaay I was worried about this one, thank God for Amy Coney Barrett's recusal," cheered "Balls and Strikes" writer and legal analyst Madiba Dennie wrote on Bluesky.
See the clip from MSNBC below or at the link here.