{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"S6, Ep. 14: The blockbuster SCOTUS case over religious charter schools","description":"The most consequential church-state case of this Supreme Court term involves whether the government could \u2013 or even must \u2013 fund religious charter schools. Amanda and Holly examine key moments in the oral arguments from Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, et al. v. Drummond, playing clips from the courtroom and looking at how the justices may apply recent precedent to shape future law. As BJC noted in the brief we filed, if the government funds religious charter schools, it will drag our government deeper into questions it is unfit to answer on matters of doctrine and church composition. That\u2019s not government neutrality toward religion \u2013 that\u2019s religious preference repackaged as educational choice.   SHOW NOTESSegment 1 (starting at 01:53): Developments since our previous show Amanda and Holly talked about the Catholic Charities\/Wisconsin case in episode 12: Back to SCOTUS: Regular business in disturbing times We released our episode with Melissa Rogers to coincide with the first 100 days of the Trump administration. It is episode 13 of season 6: Active citizenship: A conversation with Melissa Rogers about promoting religious freedom and the common good President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on the National Day of Prayer and he signed an executive order on the same day establishing the Religious Liberty Commission.  The American Bar Association has a website page dedicated to National Law Day You can click this link to read President Donald Trump\u2019s proclamation on \u201cLoyalty Day and Law Day.\u201d The Respecting Religion podcast won a 2025 \u201cBest in Class\u201d award from the Religion Communicators Council\u2019s DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards for our episode titled: \u201cBut \u2026 is it Christian nationalism?\u201d from season 5.   Segment 2 (starting at 09:51): Oral arguments in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, et al. v. Drummond Holly mentioned this article from The Washington Post by Justin Jouvenal and Laura Meckler that provides an overview of the case: How religious public schools went from a long shot to the Supreme Court Holly and Amanda discussed these cases as they worked their way through the courts in episode 16 of season 5: The trouble with *religious* charter schools BJC filed an amicus brief in Oklahoma v. Drummond, along with other Christian organizations as well as Jewish, Muslim and interfaith groups. Click here to read our brief. We played four clips in this segment from the oral arguments in Oklahoma v. Drummond. You can visit the Supreme Court\u2019s website for a transcript of the arguments and an audio recording of the arguments.  Clip #1: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson & Solicitor General John Sauer Clip #2: Chief Justice John Roberts  Clip #3: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson  Clip #4: Justice Elena Kagan & Michael McGinley Amanda and Holly mentioned three decisions authored by Chief Justice John Roberts that developed a new way of understanding the Free Exercise Clause. They are:  Trinity Lutheran v. Comer (2017) Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue (2020) Carson v. Makin (2022) Holly\u2019s 2017 column on the Trinity Lutheran decision is titled \u201cDecidedly narrow, deeply troubling.\u201d   Segment 3 (starting 37:12): What do we expect? We played one clip from the oral argument in this segment: The opening statement of Greg Garre, who argued the case for the attorney general of Oklahoma. Respecting Religion is made possible by BJC\u2019s generous donors. Your gift to BJC is tax-deductible, and you can support these conversations with a gift to BJC. ","author_name":"Respecting Religion","author_url":"https:\/\/bjconline.org\/respectingreligion\/","html":"