The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday on whether Colorado can bar Catholic schools from a preschool voucher program.
Program Rules and Religious Exclusion
Colorado’s universal preschool fund requires participating schools to enroll children “regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, housing status, income, or disability.”
Because Catholic schools refuse to admit students from same‑sex couples, they are excluded from the voucher pool, the Archdiocese of Denver argues.
Legal Battle
The Archdiocese, two Catholic schools and private plaintiffs sued after the state denied their exemption request.
They claim the law treats religious groups unevenly, pointing to secular exemptions for low‑income families that do not apply to higher‑income families.
Lower courts said the policy only incidentally burdened religious exercise because Colorado sought to avoid discrimination.
High Court’s Narrow Focus
The justices will not revisit Employment Division v. Smith, the 1990 decision that permits neutral, generally applicable laws that incidentally affect religion.
Instead, they will assess whether Colorado’s statute is truly neutral and generally applicable.
Catholic advocates cite Carson v. Makin, which held that states may not exclude religious observers from public benefits.
Colorado counters that the voucher program does not exclude schools solely for their religious character.
Discretion and Exemption Debate
State officials have broad discretion to grant exemptions, a factor that influences the constitutional analysis.
Dawn Odean, head of Colorado’s preschool funding program, once speculated that exemptions could be made for schools serving gender‑nonconforming children or prioritizing underserved communities, but the state later retracted that statement.
Colorado now asserts its regulations forbid any discretionary exceptions to the equal‑opportunity mandate.
