{"id":597,"date":"2026-09-02T13:41:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=597"},"modified":"2026-09-02T13:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T13:41:54","slug":"why-religion-and-education-will-be-in-the-spotlight-next-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=597","title":{"rendered":"Why religion and education will be in the spotlight next term"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As the back-to-school spirit sweeps across the nation, education is likely on the minds of the Supreme Court justices (especially those with kids still at home or in college). The court is preparing for a term that will involve at least one major dispute on religion in schools \u2013 and potentially more.<\/p>\n

Read more House to vote on number of justices<\/a><\/p>\n

Already, the justices have agreed to hear a Catholic preschool\u2019s challenge to the policies governing Colorado\u2019s universal preschool program, and many court watchers expect them to also review state laws requiring Ten Commandments posters to be hung in public-school classrooms. Two petitions challenging such laws were filed in the past three weeks.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not all. In two other recently filed petitions, the court was asked to revisit and overturn Locke v. Davey<\/em>, a major decision from 2004 allowing states to exclude students studying to become ministers from public scholarship programs. These appeals have received less attention \u2013 at least so far \u2013 than the cases on the Catholic preschool and Ten Commandments displays, but they, too, could lead to significant religious freedom rulings in the term ahead.<\/p>\n

Revisiting Locke v. Davey<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The plaintiff in Locke v. Davey<\/em> was Joshua Davey, who pursued a ministry degree at a Christian college in Washington state. Based on his academic performance in high school and his family\u2019s financial background, Davey qualified for the state\u2019s Promise Scholarship Program, through which he could receive more than $2,500 in scholarship funds over his first two years in college. However, the rules for the program prevented recipients from putting the money toward a \u201cdevotional\u201d degree, which meant that Davey, who planned to study pastoral ministry, was ineligible.<\/p>\n

During his freshman year, Davey filed a lawsuit challenging the program\u2019s faith-related restrictions, contending, among other things, that they violated his First Amendment right to freely exercise his religion. Davey lost before a federal district court, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed that decision, holding that Washington state had unlawfully disfavored people of faith. State officials appealed to the Supreme Court, which took up the issue during its 2003-04 term.<\/p>\n

By a vote of 7-2, the court in February 2004 overturned the 9th Circuit\u2019s decision, concluding that preventing public scholarship funds from going toward ministerial training does not violate the First Amendment. Writing for the court, Chief Justice William Rehnquist described a ministry degree as both \u201ca religious calling as well as an academic pursuit\u201d and explained that efforts to prevent public funds from supporting such a course of study does not suggest unlawful animus toward people of faith. \u201cThe State\u2019s interest in not funding the pursuit of devotional degrees is substantial and the exclusion of such funding places a relatively minor burden on Promise Scholars,\u201d Rehnquist wrote.<\/p>\n

Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas filed dissenting opinions. Scalia argued that, when a state decides to launch a scholarship program, it must ensure that the funds are equally available to people of faith. \u201c[W]hen the State withholds that benefit from some individuals solely on the basis of religion, it violates the Free Exercise Clause no less than if it had imposed a special tax,\u201d he wrote. Thomas joined Scalia\u2019s dissent, but he also wrote separately to share his belief that Washington\u2019s policy is misguided because \u201cthe study of theology does not necessarily implicate religious devotion or faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the years since Locke v. Davey<\/em> was decided, the Supreme Court has handed down several more decisions on state funding rules affecting religious people and programs and, in these cases, a majority of justices essentially embraced Scalia\u2019s view. The rulings emphasized that religious families and schools can\u2019t lose access to state money simply for being religious.<\/p>\n

Read more Enhance the Supreme Court minority\u2019s procedural powers<\/a><\/p>\n

This shift in the court\u2019s approach helps explain why the justices are now being asked to revisit Locke v. Davey<\/em>. Both of the recently filed petitions stem from challenges to tuition assistance programs in Virginia that exclude college students pursuing some faith-related degrees. The challengers \u2013 in one case, a woman majoring in music and worship and, in the other, three men studying religion, pastoral leadership, and music and worship \u2013 assert that Locke<\/em> was wrong from the beginning and that it is now even more dubious in light of the court\u2019s recent rulings in religious funding cases.<\/p>\n

Other religion and education cases<\/strong><\/p>\n

The justices will likely consider the two petitions challenging Virginia\u2019s tuition assistance programs sometime this fall, so we can expect to know by the end of the year whether the Supreme Court will revisit Locke v. Davey<\/em> during the 2026-27 term. But, as noted above, even if the justices deny both petitions, they will still debate religious education in the months ahead, because the court has already taken up a case, St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy<\/em>, involving a Catholic preschool.<\/p>\n

The case addresses Colorado\u2019s universal preschool program, through which families in the state can receive 15 hours of free preschool per week at participating schools. To be part of the program, preschools must meet state standards in areas such as employee training and also sign a nondiscrimination agreement, consenting to \u201cprovide eligible children an equal opportunity to enroll and receive preschool services regardless of race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, lack of housing, income level, or disability.\u201d Although a participating faith-based preschool may prioritize the enrollment of families that belong to the same faith as that school, Colorado does not allow them to refuse to serve LGBTQ families, because it believes such refusals would violate the nondiscrimination agreement.<\/p>\n

The Catholic organizations and families who challenged this policy to \u201cadmit only families who support Catholic beliefs, including on sex and gender.\u201d They contend that making Catholic preschools\u2019 participation in the universal preschool program contingent on accepting the agreement amounts to unlawful religious discrimination and that the First Amendment requires Colorado to create a religious exemption enabling their participation in the program. The justices will hear oral argument in the case on Tuesday, Nov. 3.<\/p>\n

Religion and education will become an even more prominent theme of the 2026-27 term if the court agrees to decide a case on Ten Commandments posters. Last month, the justices received two high-profile petitions out of Texas and Louisiana on laws requiring Ten Commandments displays in public-school classrooms. The challengers contend that the laws violate the First Amendment\u2019s establishment clause, echoing Stone v. Graham<\/em>, a 1980 case in which the Supreme Court struck down a similar Ten Commandments law in Kentucky for that reason. The justices will likely consider these petitions at around the same time as the petitions on Locke v. Davey<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There is also a pending petition, Woolard v. Thurmond<\/em>, from a group of religious parents in California who homeschool their children. They are challenging the state\u2019s rules for publicly funded independent-study programs, contending that it is unconstitutional to deny benefits to homeschooling families who desire to use faith-based materials in their lessons. \u201cWhile a State isn\u2019t obligated to fund education outside its public schools, once it chooses to do so, it can\u2019t exclude religious education from that benefit,\u201d the parents contend in their , describing California\u2019s policy as \u201can open-and-shut Free Exercise violation.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not necessarily all. Even more opportunities for the justices to weigh in on disputes involving religion and education will undoubtedly emerge in the months ahead, as additional petitions for review are filed throughout the term.<\/p>\n

Read more Solicitor General Sauer\u2019s SCOTUS tightrope<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the back-to-school spirit sweeps across the nation, education is likely on the minds of the Supreme Court justices (especially those with kids still at home or in college). The court is preparing for a term that will involve at least one major dispute on religion in schools \u2013 and potentially more. Read more House […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scotus-focus"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy religion and education will be in the spotlight next term - American Service Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanservicereview.com\/?p=597\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why religion and education will be in the spotlight next term - American Service Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the back-to-school spirit sweeps across the nation, education is likely on the minds of the Supreme Court justices (especially those with kids still at home or in college). 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