The case "St. Mary's Catholic Parish v. Roy" involves the Archdiocese of Denver and St. Mary’s Parish suing the state of Colorado over its new universal preschool program. St. Mary’s Catholic Parish operates a preschool program that prioritizes admission for Catholic families.
This year, Colorado is starting a universal preschool program, also known as UPK Colorado. This program was created to assist low-income families in receiving a quality education for their children. The program provides every child 15 hours of preschool per week, free of cost. So far, over 27,000 families have joined the program and accepted a match school. St Mary's Catholic preschool, as well as all other Catholic preschools, are not included in this program. Families who send their children to St. Mary's will not receive tuition reimbursement. The state requires preschool providers to be non-discriminative, accepting applicants without regard to the family's religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. St Mary's requires that families of students must accept Catholic beliefs such as issues like life, marriage, and sexuality. This means the parish considers whether parents are in a same-sex relationship or are transgender.
St. Mary's Parish
The lawsuit claims that the state's non-discriminatory enrollment requirements violate the First Amendment rights to freedom of religion and speech for the religious preschools involved. The plaintiffs point to the recent "Creative v. Elenis" case in which the court said, “The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees.”
The salient issue in "St. Mary's Catholic Parish v. Roy" is the conflict between Colorado's non-discriminatory enrollment requirements for its universal preschool program and the religious expression of Catholic institutions refusing to accept applicants without regard to religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Two recent Supreme Court cases, "Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue" and "Carson vs. Makin," created a precedent within the sphere of religious schools. The Espinoza case covered whether religious schools should be included in a scholarship program. The court held that excluding religious schools from this program violated the free exercise clause. The court stated that excluding religious schools discriminated against families based on their religion; thus, infringing on their constitutional rights. The Carson case occurred in Maine. Many towns in Maine lack a public secondary school. In these towns, families can choose to send their children to a different town's public school or private school, in which case the state will reimburse the family. An issue arose when families were told they would not receive reimbursement for a religious school. The court held that the state may not choose to subsidize some private schools but not others on the basis of religious character.
These cases create a precedent that favors St Mary's parish. The Supreme Court has made it clear that subsidizing private schools, including religious ones, is not an establishment of religion, as seen in the previously stated private school cases. Thus, it is unconstitutional for the state not to include Catholic preschools in their universal preschool program. Furthermore, the case, "Creative v. Elenis”, brought into question within the St Mary’s case, created another precedent in which it is acceptable for an institution to discriminate against LBGT people based on their beliefs.
Drawing on these previous cases, it appears that St. Mary's Catholic Parish has a strong argument in calling on its First Amendment right to freedom of religious expression. The Supreme Court's stance on subsidizing private schools, including religious institutions, strengthens the case for the inclusion of Catholic preschools in the UPK program. The precedent, shaped by these recent decisions, provides a strong basis for the argument that the state's non-discriminatory enrollment requirements may infringe upon the religious freedom of institutions like St. Mary's Catholic Parish. Forcing St. Mary's and other Catholic preschools to change their policy would be asking them to change their religious beliefs, and thus, would be violating the Free Exercise clause.
While I personally believe that preschools should not be permitted to discriminate against LGBT families, personal beliefs are not how judges decide cases. The facts of the case and precedents that exist mean that it is not explicitly unconstitutional for St. Mary's to discriminate based on their religious view.
Sources:
https://www.oyez.org/cases/
https://www.oyez.org/cases/
https://www.becketlaw.org/
https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/denver-archdiocese-sues-colorado-over-right-to-deny-preschool-to-lgbtq-families/
4 comments:
Devin, I completley agree with you. As we discussed in class, it is not the courts place to create good policy, let alone policy at all. Instead it is up to them to determine the constitutionality of the law, and as you stated, current precedent implies that this practice of not allowing catholic preschools to receive this funding as unconstitutional. I do wonder though if the abject disallow of certain families from these catholic preschools changes, as it seems that many of the cases we have read in class such as Zorach do not require religious belief. But from my current understanding I agree with you, unfortunately these programs should actually receive funding from a constitutional standpoint
Hi Devin,
I really enjoyed this post! I completely agree with you about this case. Although I do not agree with the preschool’s stances, they are permissible under the First Amendment. The requirements of Colorado’s universal preschool program are well-intentioned, but they favor more secular beliefs over religious ones. Under the Free Exercise Clause, it is unconstitutional for Colorado to discriminate against these Catholic preschools as they are enacting a policy that forbids the Catholic preschools from professing their religious beliefs. Additionally, I did not see any mention of other religious preschools that were barred from this program. If there are other religious preschools in Colorado that are included in the program, the exclusion of Catholic preschools is, as you pointed out with previous cases, constitutionally unfair. From my understanding, parents are able to choose from a list of qualifying preschools and they are not forced to apply for admittance to a program that goes against their own beliefs. As long as these other options remain open to parents, St. Mary’s Catholic preschool should be included in UPK Colorado.
I disagree both that funding religious education is not an establishment of religion and that non-discriminatory enrollment requirements are a restriction of St. Mary’s Catholic Parish’s freedom of religion. The state is not asking the church to change its beliefs; the church is free to teach any student whose parents choose to send it there. The state has a compelling interest in allowing all families to participate equally in a state-run program regardless of their sexuality, race, religion, etc. It cannot permit this church to participate in the program, and has no obligation to send taxpayer money towards religious purpose.
Devin -
In light of our recent discussions in class, this is a really great case to examine! It reminds me of Everson v. Board of Education in which the primary holding recognized that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment does require governments to avoid excessive entanglement with religion but found it permissible for a state to reimburse the costs of transportation for students in parochial schools. That being said, I agree with you that there are precedent cases that showcase the constitutionality for Catholic preschools to exercise their freedom of religion but also the permissibility of the state to fund tuition for Catholic preschoolers. Regardless of their religious beliefs, low-income families should be granted a quality education for their children. I would be interested to know if other religious preschools were denied inclusion in the program or if Catholic schools were the only ones considered to be 'too discriminatory' to participate. Cases like these often showcase that secular ideologies are significantly favored in policy even when they may infringe on religious rights granted by the Constitution. Great post!
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