The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from the Archdiocese of Denver and two Catholic parish preschools that are squaring off with Colorado over its universal preschool nondiscrimination rules. At stake is whether church-run preschools that accept state funds can turn away children or families because of sexual orientation or gender identity, and whether the justices will narrow the landmark 1990 decision in Employment Division v. Smith.
The petitioners - St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton, St. Bernadette Catholic Parish in Lakewood, parents Daniel and Lisa Sheley, and the Archdiocese of Denver - say the state blocked them from the Universal Preschool Program because they refused to sign an LGBTQ nondiscrimination clause. The Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Archdiocese’s preschools must follow the program’s equal-opportunity rules, and court filings note the Archdiocese oversees thirty-six Catholic preschools in Colorado, as detailed in an opinion from the Tenth Circuit.
Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program grew out of a 2020 ballot measure and offers up to 15 hours of state-funded preschool per week for children in the year before kindergarten. The program uses a mixed-delivery system, meaning families can pick public or private providers and the state matches students to programs through an online portal. Any provider that accepts UPK funding must sign an agreement promising equal opportunity for enrollment regardless of religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity, according to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.
What the court will decide
The justices will weigh whether the UPK equal-opportunity requirement is neutral and generally applicable under the Free Exercise Clause and whether Employment Division v. Smith should be revisited. Petitioners and their lawyers say Colorado’s rules single out religious preschools in practice and have asked the Court to narrow Smith. Those arguments are laid out by petitioners’ counsel at the Becket Fund. Colorado counters that the statute has no carveouts at all and that lower courts correctly refused an exemption for religious providers, as reported by the AP.
Federal government weighs in.
The U.S. Solicitor General filed a brief backing the petitioners and urged the Court to resolve a split among lower courts over how nondiscrimination policies intersect with religious objections, according to the Supreme Court’s docket. That move significantly raised the case’s profile and presents it as a clean test for the high court to clarify the modern free-exercise doctrine.
Local stakes for families and preschools
A ruling for the Archdiocese would let church-run preschools join UPK while enforcing admissions and conduct policies tied to Catholic teaching, a shift that could ripple through preschool options for families across metro Denver. Federal courts at both the district court and Tenth Circuit levels have so far rejected the Archdiocese’s bid for an exemption, leaving the Supreme Court to have the final word. The appellate opinion lays out those rulings in detail.
What’s next
The justices added the case to their merits docket and are expected to schedule an argument this fall, with a decision to follow in a later term, as reported by NBC News. Governor Jared Polis previously turned down requests for a blanket exemption from the UPK rules, a move that helped set the stage for the litigation, according to Courthouse News Service.
