US Supreme Court to hear case of Colorado Catholic institutions — Jerusalem Post
The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday in a case involving Catholic organizations challenging the anti-discrimination requirements of Colorado’s state-funded preschool program. The plaintiffs, including the Archdiocese of Denver, are seeking an exemption from a rule prohibiting discrimination based on the sexual orientation or gender identity of a child or their parents, The Jerusalem Post reports.
The administration of US President Donald Trump supported the Catholic institutions. Colorado officials say the preschools are seeking the right to discriminate against four-year-old children and their families while receiving taxpayer money.
Terms of Colorado’s program
Under state law, since 2023 children in Colorado have been entitled to 15 hours of state-funded preschool education per week before entering kindergarten. Public and private, secular and religious institutions may participate in the program. At the same time, all of them must provide children with equal enrollment opportunities regardless of the sexual orientation or gender identity of students or their parents.
According to court documents, the Archdiocese of Denver oversees 34 Catholic preschools. Its policy provides for enrolling only children from families that support Catholic beliefs, including those concerning same-sex relationships and gender identity.
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Catholic organizations and one Colorado family filed the lawsuit during the expansion of the state’s universal preschool program. They argue that the anti-discrimination requirement burdens their right to freely exercise religion, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Dispute over religious exemptions
A federal court in Colorado in 2024 upheld protections for LGBT people in the program. The US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver upheld that decision last year, after which the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court.
The state insists that the equal-opportunity requirement is neutral and generally applicable to all program participants and therefore does not violate the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. Colorado cites the Supreme Court’s 1990 precedent in Employment Division v. Smith, which allowed generally applicable laws to remain in force even if they restrict religious freedom.
One of the key questions in the case is whether the state discriminated against Catholic preschools by denying them an exemption from the equal-opportunity requirement, while the program allows enrollment priority to be given to children from low-income families and children with disabilities. Groups supporting Colorado, including the ACLU and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said a ruling for the plaintiffs could require the state to fund institutions whose practices contradict its equality policy.
