Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond (2025)

Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond was a SCOTUS in the Classroom case. It was decided on May 22, 2025.

This case concerned an Oklahoma Catholic school seeking a charter. Although the application was approved, the Oklahoma attorney general filed a lawsuit, arguing that the charter violates state law requiring charter schools to be nonsectarian, as well as the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Each term Street Law selects the most classroom-relevant, student-friendly cases as our SCOTUS in the Classroom cases. Teachers are encouraged to conduct moot courts the same week the case is argued, giving students the opportunity to follow discussion and analysis in the news and listen to or read a transcript of the actual oral arguments.

Case Issue:

Does a state violate the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause by excluding religious schools from the state’s charter-school program solely because the schools are religious?

Case Briefs:

• Brief of Petitioner: Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board, et al.
• Brief of Respondents: Gentner Drummond, attorney general of Oklahoma

Oral Argument:

• Audio recording and transcript of the oral argument from the Supreme Court

Decision:

• Link to the opinion of the Court

News Articles:

• KGOU by Beth Wallis, “Oklahoma’s St. Isidore case will be heard by SCOTUS next week. Here’s what’s at stake,” (April 24, 2025)
• Education Week by Mark Walsh, “Supreme Court Case Could Reshape Landscape for Charter and Religious Schools,” (April 28, 2025)
• NEA Today by Amanda Litvinov, “Will the Supreme Court Force States to Fund Religious Charter Schools?” (April 29, 2025)

How to Conduct a Moot Court or a Mini-Moot Court: 

• Classroom Guide to Moot Courts 
• Mini-Moot Court Demonstration Video