Supreme Court Signals Win for Catholic Preschools Shut Out by Colorado

The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared ready to side with Catholic preschools that Colorado shut out of its taxpayer-funded universal preschool program, according to CBS News, Bloomberg Law and The Daily Signal, which all covered the two hours of oral argument in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy.

The case pits the Archdiocese of Denver, two of its parishes and a Catholic family against Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood. According to CBS News, the archdiocese oversees 34 Catholic preschools and asked the state for an exemption from a nondiscrimination rule tied to the program, because those schools only enroll families that align with Catholic teaching on marriage, family and sexual identity. Colorado denied the request, CBS reported, and said the schools could not “discriminate against children or families in violation of state statute.”

Catholic parents and preschools asked the Supreme Court today to stop Colorado from excluding them from its “universal” preschool program because of their faith. Becket’s Nick Reaves argued in front of the Justices in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy on behalf of the families and… pic.twitter.com/Irpl74n1oR

— BECKET (@becketfund) November 3, 2026

The religious liberty law firm Becket, which represents the families and parishes, said in a post on X that Colorado promises families more than $6,000 in preschool funding “unless you choose a Catholic preschool.” Becket attorney Nick Reaves argued the case for the Catholic side, according to the firm.

Conservative justices press Colorado

Justice Amy Coney Barrett pressed Colorado deputy solicitor general Helen Norton on whether the state’s rule works as a back-door ban on religious schools, according to CBS News. “You agree, don’t you, that Colorado could not say that Catholic schools or evangelical schools or Orthodox Jewish schools were excluded from participation in the UPK program?” Barrett asked, according to CBS. “Then explain what the difference is between that and choosing to impose a condition that you know that those schools would be unable to agree to.” Norton answered that religious schools are welcome in the program, according to The Daily Signal.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked, “Why not seek the win-win?” according to CBS News, noting that more than 2,000 preschools take part in the program and only 34 are run under the Archdiocese of Denver. “There are plenty of opportunities to respect the rights of the religious believers and respect the ability of LGBT parents to find among the 2,000 schools an appropriate fit for their children,” Kavanaugh said, according to CBS.

Justice Samuel Alito pointed to Colorado’s string of recent losses at the high court in religious liberty cases involving a Christian baker, a website designer and a counselor, CBS News reported. “We have the state’s record,” Alito told Norton, according to CBS. “What should we make of this?”

Liberal justices push back

The court’s liberal justices focused on whether the schools want a special exemption to turn away certain families. Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Reaves whether a Catholic school could reject a child simply because the child’s parents are a same-sex couple, according to the Associated Press. Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson pressed the same point, according to coverage of the argument.

Norton told the justices that Colorado “welcomes” religious preschools, according to CBS News. “The only thing Colorado asks is that they comply with the same conditions that every publicly funded preschool must meet, religious and secular alike,” she said, according to CBS.

What comes next

According to the AP, the Trump administration joined the archdiocese in urging the justices to overturn the lower-court ruling. Lower courts sided with Colorado, ruling that the sexual orientation and gender identity provisions of the rule are neutral and apply generally to every provider in the program, according to CBS News.

A ruling for the Catholic preschools would add to a line of recent decisions in which the 6-3 court sided with religious institutions excluded from state benefit programs, CBS News reported. The AP reported that such a win could further narrow a 1990 Supreme Court decision holding that religious practice does not create exemptions from broadly applicable laws.

No decision has been issued. The justices typically rule on argued cases by the end of the term in late June.

Sources

• CBS News
• Associated Press
• Bloomberg Law
• The Daily Signal
• Oyez
• Becket on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.