Oklahoma will not be able to use government money to fund a Catholic charter school, the Supreme Court ruled after Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from the case. In Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v.

Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general had argued that drastic consequences would follow if the justices sided with the school.

The constitutionality of religious charter schools remains an open question after the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked, 4-4, over the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Thursday that the state of Oklahoma will not be permitted to create the first-ever religious public charter school with a deadlocked decision only a sentence in length.

The Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on whether to approve the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school Thursday, leaving intact a lower ruling that voided the Oklahoma school’s

The court split 4-4, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing herself from the proceedings, therefore affirming the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling, which had blocked the approval of a charter for St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School because of its religious affiliation. The high court did not elaborate on the reason for its decision.

The case, a major test of the separation of church and state, was an unexpected loss for those advocating a greater role for religion in public life.

The justices announced they were split 4-4 in a test case heard last month from Oklahoma, which blocks the new Catholic charter school in the state.