Supreme Court Set to Hear Colorado Catholic Preschool Case on Nov. 3

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on Nov. 3 in a case over whether religious schools may refuse to admit children of gay and transgender parents, even though Colorado has a state law against discrimination, according to NPR.

The case pits the Catholic Church against Colorado's universal preschool program, a state program that pays for preschool for young children. Under the program, each enrolled child receives a $6,300 benefit per year, paid for with a tobacco tax. Colorado's program also allows religious schools to take part, as long as they follow the state law that bars discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Any child in Colorado can register for up to one year of 15 hours of tuition-free preschool in the year before kindergarten. Local school districts decide who is eligible for that year, according to the state's early childhood department.

The Archdiocese of Denver is involved in the case. St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton is one of the petitioners, meaning the church groups that asked the Supreme Court to take up the matter. The case is docketed as No. 25-581 and captioned St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, according to court filings.

The archdiocese, which is led by Archbishop James Golka, has described the case as deciding whether Colorado can continue excluding Catholic families and preschools from the state's universal preschool program. The archdiocese announced in June 2024 that a second federal court had ruled that Colorado's funding program violates the Constitution.

Earlier, in October 2025, a federal appeals court upheld a lower federal court's decision that the state's nondiscrimination requirement for the program is legal, according to a state press release.