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St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Gentner Drummond, Attorney General of Oklahoma, ex rel. Oklahoma
Paid petition · Supreme Court of Oklahoma, No. 121,694 · judgment June 25, 2024
Before the decision, about 2.4× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a state or local-government respondent.
Questions presented
Consolidated with 24-394. This Court has repeatedly held that the Free Exercise Clause prohibits a state from denying generally available benefits to a school solely because it is religious. That principle should have resolved this case. Petitioner is a private religious institution. It seeks to partake in the benefits of Oklahoma's charter school program. But the court below invalidated Petitioner's contract with the charter school board. The court disregarded this Court's Free Exercise precedents because, in its view, Petitioner had become an arm of the government by virtue of that contract. It thus held that the Establishment Clause and Oklahoma laws aimed at creating "a complete separation of church and state" compelled the court to deny Petitioner-on religious grounds-the benefits created by Oklahoma's Charter Schools Act. The questions presented are:
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Whether the academic and pedagogical choices of a privately owned and run school constitute state action simply because it contracts with the state to offer a free educational option for interested students.
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Whether a state violates the Free Exercise Clause by excluding privately run religious schools from the state's charter school program solely because the schools are religious, or whether a state can justify such an exclusion by invoking anti-establishment interests that go further than the Establishment Clause requires.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Michael Hugh McGinley
Dechert LLP
For respondent
Garry Michael Gaskins II
Oklahoma Office of Attorney General
Argument & decision
Argued April 30, 2025 — James A. Campbell · Michael H. McGinley · D. John Sauer · Gregory G.... Audio and transcript
Decided May 22, 2025. Opinion by Per Curiam.
Proceedings
- Jun 23 2025Judgment and Mandate Issued.
- May 22 2025Adjudged to be AFFIRMED by an equally divided Court. Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration or decision of these cases. Opinion per curiam. VIDED.
- Apr 30 2025Argued. For petitioners in 24-394: James A. Campbell, Lansdowne, Va. For petitioner in 24-396: Michael H. McGinley, Washington, D. C. For United States, as amicus curiae: D. John Sauer, Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For respondent: Gregory G. Garre, Washington, D. C. VIDED.
- Mar 19 2025Record received from the Supreme Court of Oklahoma and available with the Clerk (one box).
- Mar 19 2025CIRCULATED
- Mar 03 2025Record requested from the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.
- Feb 24 2025SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. VIDED.
- Jan 24 2025Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 24-394 is granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. Petitioners' briefs on the merits are to be filed on or before Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Respondent's brief on the merits is to be filed on or before Monday, March 31, 2025. The reply briefs are to be received by the Clerk and served upon opposing counsel on or before 2 p.m., Monday, April 21, 2025. VIDED. Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
- Jan 24 2025Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 24-394. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 24-394. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
- Jan 21 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/24/2025.
- Jan 13 2025DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/17/2025.
- Dec 24 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2025.
- Dec 23 2024Reply of petitioner St. Isidore Of Seville Catholic Virtual School filed. (Distributed)
- Dec 09 2024Brief amicus curiae of National Alliance for Public Charter Schools filed. VIDED.
- Dec 09 2024Brief of respondent Gentner Drummond in opposition filed.
- Nov 08 2024Brief amici curiae of Former Oklahoma Attorneys General John M. O'Connor & E. Scott Pruitt filed. VIDED.
- Nov 08 2024Brief amici curiae of General Council of the Assemblies of God, et al. filed. VIDED.
- Nov 08 2024Brief amici curiae of South Carolina, et al. filed. VIDED.
- Nov 08 2024Brief amici curiae of Ryan Walters in His Official Capacity as Superintendent of Public Instruction for Oklahoma, et al. filed. VIDED.
- Nov 08 2024Brief amicus curiae of Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence filed. VIDED.
- Nov 08 2024Brief amici curiae of the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, et al. filed. VIDED.
- Nov 07 2024Brief amicus curiae of The Buckeye Institute filed. VIDED.
- Nov 05 2024Brief amicus curiae of Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, Inc. filed. VIDED.
- Oct 31 2024Brief amicus curiae of Manhattan Institute filed. VIDED.
- Oct 30 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including December 9, 2024.
- Oct 29 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response from November 8, 2024 to December 9, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
- Oct 07 2024Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 8, 2024)
- Sep 19 2024Application (24A264) granted by Justice Gorsuch extending the time to file until October 7, 2024.
- Sep 11 2024Application (24A264) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from September 23, 2024 to October 7, 2024, submitted to Justice Gorsuch.