The Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments on November 3, 2026, in a case on whether Catholic preschools in Colorado could join the state’s publicly funded preschool program without admitting children from LGBTQ families. The Archdiocese of Denver makes the case that excluding the schools is a violation of First Amendment rights, but the state of Colorado says that nondiscrimination rules apply equally to every school in the program.
In the case of St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, two parishes and two parents are challenging Colorado’s universal preschool program, which was enacted back in 2020. The program began in 2023 and offers families 15 free hours of preschool a week. The participating schools must provide equal enrollment opportunities regardless of gender, religion, sexual orientation, and other characteristics.
Colorado has almost 2,000 providers, but the archdiocese’s 34 schools are not among them. A federal district court and the 10th Circuit sided with the state, and the Trump administration backs the school.
This new case also has the chance to overturn the 1990 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Employment Division v. Smith, written by Justice Antonin Scalia in a dispute over the use of peyote. It held that religious practices do not create exemptions from laws that apply broadly. This decision has long been a target for the conservation legal movement; a ruling for the schools could help overturn the decision.
Many different justices and lawyers have debated whether Colorado’s conditions are neutral and generally applied. The schools argue that the rule is not true across the board because the preschool program does allow some exceptions, such as children with disabilities and low-income families.
Nicholas Reaves, the lawyer representing the schools, argues that including the schools in the program will add more seats rather than take away. When asked by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, he said that the schools could reject a child because the parents are a same-sex couple if doing so is because of religious belief.
Supreme Court justices appear to be divided in how to approach the case. Justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Sonia Sotomayor, all appointed by President Obama, questioned the school’s argument. They say the Trump administration seems to argue that “exposing” children of same-sex marriages to other children “creates a problem” and that the preschools and the Archdiocese are seeking special permission to turn away children because of their parents’ characteristics.
Republican nominated appointees were more sympathetic to the schools. For instance, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wondered why Colorado would not be able to ban religious schools outright, but allow for conditions that it knows the schools cannot meet, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh wanted to know why Colorado would not be able to reach an acceptable compromise between the two.
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the United States, pointed out that a victory for the schools would enable religious preschools participating in the program to exclude LGBTQ+ families from participation or to rescind their participation should the families come out. Such a move would leave rural families without any preschool choice.
