Supreme Court Hears Catholic Preschools' Challenge to Colorado Universal Preschool Rule

The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared likely to side with Catholic preschools challenging Colorado's refusal to exempt them from a nondiscrimination requirement in its universal preschool program, during two hours of arguments in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy. The rule requires participating schools to give children an equal opportunity to enroll regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, among other characteristics. The Archdiocese of Denver, which oversees 34 Catholic preschools, sought an exemption because the schools enroll only families who align with church teachings on marriage, family and sexual identity. The state denied the request, saying the schools could not discriminate against children or families in violation of state statute. The Archdiocese, two of its parishes and a family sued, arguing the exclusion violates the Constitution's Free Exercise Clause. Lower courts sided with Colorado, calling the sexual orientation and gender identity provisions neutral and generally applicable. The Trump administration joined the Archdiocese in urging the justices to overturn the ruling. Justice Kavanaugh asked how the state answers the concern that a vegetarian school could participate but a Catholic or Jewish school could not.

CBS News, the left-leaning source, frames the case as a forecast of the outcome, with a headline saying the court seems likely to side with the schools. It spends its opening laying out the rule, the 34 schools, the state's stated reason for refusing and the lower-court rulings, and it notes the conservative majority's role in the argument. The Federalist, on the right, uses a more charged headline saying the justices grilled Colorado for boxing Christians out. It leads with Kavanaugh's vegetarian-school question and treats the policy as exclusion of religious believers. Both agree the justices were skeptical of the state; they differ in tone and in sources, with CBS giving the state's rationale and procedural history and The Federalist leaning on a justice's quote. AP, listed as alternative, adds that the Trump administration backed the Archdiocese. Reason's item concerned election results rather than this case.