Religious freedom hangs in the balance as the Supreme Court will decide this fall whether governments can bar religious families in schools from public funding programs.

Multiple cases the highest court in the land will hear this term center on First Amendment rights. Among these is St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, regarding Colorado’s supposed “universal preschool” program, which offers funding to Colorado families for schooling — unless they want an education that aligns with Christian values.

Nick Reaves, counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, explained the case during a Monday appearance on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” noting that the state of Colorado created a preschool program in 2023, billed as “universal” with around 2,000 participating schools. “Colorado said it’s important for families to get to choose the preschool that’s the best fit for them, and that preschools can continue serving their existing families,” Reaves said. 

Reaves pointed out that one Colorado defendant in the case even said it would be fine if a universal preschool served only LGBT parents, transgender-identifying children, or only one race. “But at the same time, she said Catholic schools could not ask the families to enroll, to share their Catholic faith, or to at least be open to and supportive of the faith,” Reaves continued. 

But this won’t be the first time in recent years the Supreme Court has heard a religious liberty case of this nature. In the 2017 Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer case, a Lutheran church in Missouri did not receive government funding for its playground due to its status as a religious institution. The court ruled in favor of the church. 

“I tend to think that the court has dealt with this and that Colorado should have seen the writing on the wall a long time ago. The one distinction that Colorado points to is that the exclusion here is not explicit; there’s not a sign on the wall saying, ‘no Catholic schools,’ Reaves explained. “But that’s really the effect of what they’re doing. … Including Catholic schools increases options for everybody. It makes UPKs [Universal Pre-Kindergarten] more accessible for all families, even for families who oppose Catholic teaching.”

“It’s not just about the money, although that’s important for these families, especially low-income families, but it’s about the ability to keep having Catholic and other religious preschools,” he added. “It was actually a coalition of Catholic, Lutheran and Jewish groups that came to the came to the state and said, ‘Hey, we need a religious accommodation here.’”

Reaves highlighted that another case to watch is Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist, Inc. v. Frederic, a dispute in Kentucky where a local Catholic group wanted to build a grotto near one of their parishes, only for neighbors to object, leading to the Kentucky Supreme Court’s refusal of the construction. “[The government] basically told them, ‘There are other ways to exercise your religion,’” Reaves detailed. 

“[It’s] a case about whether the government can tell a religious group that you have to change the way you do your religious exercise, or whether it’s up to the religious group to say, ‘No, this is how our religious exercise works, and if you tell us otherwise, that’s a burden on the religion,’” he described. “... That’s a real problem when you’re telling religious groups to change the way that they engage in their religion in order to get government approval.”

The oral arguments for the Colorado case will happen this fall, while the Kentucky case will most likely be heard early next year, with decisions for both coming down before the end of the SCOTUS term in June 2027.