Are religious charter schools constitutional? After deadlocked SCOTUS decision, another Oklahoma case is trying to find out

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(The Conversation) — Just over a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered an unusual judgment: a tied vote.

Without stating why, Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself from Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond , a case about whether it would have been constitutional to open a Catholic charter school . The remaining justices deadlocked 4-4, leaving in place lower court rulings that blocked the school. Oklahoma courts agreed that allowing state funding to a religious school would have violated both Oklahoma law and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution .

Now, a new contender is attempting to become America’s first religious charter school. On Sept. 24, 2026, a federal court judge allowed a suit to proceed from Ben Gamla, a Jewish organization whose application to participate in Oklahoma’s charter school program was denied earlier this year.

This yearslong controversy goes to the heart of questions about how much public aid is permissible to faith-based institutions under the First Amendment’s establishment clause , which forbids the government from making laws…