The justices have allowed vouchers for religious schools and required equal treatment in tuition programs. But direct government payments to religious public schools pose a new test.
The Supreme Court appeared open on Wednesday to allowing Oklahoma to use government money to run the nation’s first religious charter school, which would teach a curriculum infused by Catholic doctrine.
Excluding the school from the state’s charter-school system would amount to “rank discrimination against religion,” Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said.
The justices appeared to be divided along the usual ideological lines, with the court’s Republican appointees largely sympathetic to the school and its Democratic ones quite wary. But Justice Amy Coney Barrett was recused, raising the possibility of a tie vote if a single Republican appointee joined the three Democratic ones. That would leave a state court decision rejecting the school intact.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who asked questions supportive of both sides, seemed to be the most likely member of such a potential alliance.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
