The Wall of Separation Stands. Barely.

Wherever you live, you’ve probably been thinking about Oklahoma. That’s because we just dodged a bullet. After years of legal challenge and counter-challenge, the case of St. Isidore has finally been decided: there will be no state funds for Catholic charter schools. Not here in Oklahoma and, presumably, not anywhere. That sound you hear is a great sigh of relief.

Of course, this is not the end of the matter. By report, the theocrats are working by night to craft another effort to fund St. Isidore. But even this verdict has been long in coming. The case originally took shape in 2023, when the Catholic community put in its bid for support. Its argument was a simple bid for parity. If public funds were available for schools, it would be discriminatory to withhold them from religious education. Why should a benefit available to some be forbidden to others on the basis of religion?

The issue was framed as a Constitutional question. If the government is barred from imposing restrictions on religion, it should be forced to remove the restrictions on funding. The claim had a kind of intuitive appeal, especially in an era of legal deference to religion. Think of it as a kind of bid for diversity, along with an ironic turn on the claims of civil rights. Let a thousand educational flowers bloom.

However short-lived, this verdict was a miracle. Oklahoma originally approved the creation of the school, but after the State Supreme Court rejected the funding of St. Isidore, the Church brought its case before Justice Roberts and Co., who gave every indication of sympathy to St. Isidore. With few exceptions, the questioning was friendly and supportive. Given a court largely populated by practicing Catholics, that is more or less the case with its decisions. But the final outcome was a perfect split. Only the fact that one justice recused herself meant that the Oklahoma Supreme Court decision would stand.

That one justice was Amy Coney Barrett. Home base for Barrett is Notre Dame, which aligned itself early with the team at St. Isidore. On a more granular level, she has an individual tie to a legal colleague named Nicolle Stelle Garnett. That tie goes deep and includes both faith and friendship. Ms. Garnett was a primary advocate for St. Isidore, and Justice Barrett apparently felt legally compromised by the relationship. Kudos to Barrett for acknowledging this complication. We should not assume that our justices are up to even such basic standards of discernment. Clarence Thomas gets it wrong on virtually every occasion.

Kudos, also, to the Attorney General of Oklahoma. Gentner Drummond is a lifelong, affiliated Republican, but many of us would say that he is a man for both tribes. He looked at the law controlling funding for charter schools and reported accurately that they must be constitutionally secular. Despite enormous pressure, he did not bow.

A final tip of the hat to the State Supreme Court. Whatever you may think about Oklahoma, it did the right thing in the clinch. It is also addressing other key issues: respectful relationships with tribal governments, the religious zealotry of our Superintendent of Education, and the bizarre extremism of our stand on abortion. For now, it has affirmed Jefferson’s great Wall of Separation, and that is reason enough for a moment of satisfaction. In this case, and others, Oklahoma has succeeded. If such decisions endure, the center may hold after all.