Supreme Court justices appeared ready on Tuesday to side with Catholic challengers seeking an exemption from Colorado's antidiscrimination rules so they can take part in a taxpayer-funded preschool program. The case now looks like one of the court's clearest tests this term of how far religious rights can go when they collide with protections for LGBTQ families.
For Nicholas Reaves, who argued for the Catholic entities, the day was a strong one. The court's conservative majority signaled sympathy for the view that Colorado cannot bar the Archdiocese of Denver and other plaintiffs from the program while insisting they follow a rule that would keep preschools out if they refuse admission because of a child's or parent's sexual orientation or gender identity. A ruling is due by the end of June, and the justices are weighing whether that condition violates the First Amendment rights of the challengers.
The dispute sits in a familiar place for the court. Colorado voters approved the preschool program in 2020, and the Supreme Court has spent the last decade hearing cases over taxpayer money going to religious entities, including schools, even as the Establishment Clause has long been used to limit that flow. Justice Neil Gorsuch pointed to that line of rulings and suggested the court might as well not have spent years on the issue if Colorado can still shut out religious schools from a public benefit.
Several of his colleagues seemed just as receptive. Justice Amy Coney Barrett said she was not assuming animus and pressed the state on how a rule that pushes out those with a contrary belief is different from exclusion. Justice Brett Kavanaugh called accommodation a win-win and said there were plenty of opportunities to respect the rights of religious believers while also leaving LGBT parents with choices among the 2,000 schools in the program. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson took the other side, telling Reaves that he appeared to be asking for a special rule for religious schools and that the preschools effectively want to discriminate by exclusion.
That exchange captures the core of the fight. The challengers say Catholic doctrine does not recognize same-sex relationships or transgender status, so the state is forcing them to choose between their faith and access to a public program. Colorado says the rule exists to keep publicly funded preschools open to families without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. The Trump administration backs the challengers, adding another layer to a case that could reshape where the court draws the line between religious freedom and nondiscrimination rules.
The broader pattern is hard to miss. Most of the Supreme Court cases in the last decade in which Christian plaintiffs have pushed back against LGBTQ-related antidiscrimination measures have come from Colorado. This one may turn on whether the justices see the preschool rule as a neutral condition on a public benefit or as an unconstitutional burden on faith. By the end of June, the court will answer that question — and likely decide whether Colorado must make room for religious preschools even when their rules keep some families out.
