SCOTUS rejects bid to use state funds for religious charter school

The US Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a bid to use taxpayer money to fund an religious charter school in Oklahoma.

The court, which was split 4-4 with one justice recused, left in place an earlier ruling that the plan was unconstitutional.

A win in this case for the schools would expand the use of public funding for religious schools, which critics have argued blurs the separation of church and state.

The lack of a majority opinion leaves open the broader question of whether the First Amendment allows states to fund religious charter schools, likely meaning that “proponents of religious charter schools will simply try again,” Vox wrote: Legal experts pointed to the court’s recent expansion of the role of religion in public life as an indication that it could rule decisively in the future.