Supreme Court Hears Colorado Catholic Preschool Case
The US Supreme Court hears arguments on Tuesday, November 3, in a challenge brought by two Catholic preschools in Colorado that are seeking admission to the state's free preschool program. The case is captioned St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, and it is numbered 25-581 on the court's docket. The schools are in Littleton, Colorado, and the defendant, Lisa Roy, is sued in her official capacity as the program's executive director.
The two schools reject children with LGBTQ+ parents, according to The Guardian. The state program, created in 2023, pays for 15 hours a week of preschool. Colorado requires participating preschools to give eligible children an equal opportunity to enroll, regardless of race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, housing status, income or disability.
Colorado argues that its law does not discriminate based on religion, as SCOTUSblog reported in October. A lower federal appeals court, the 10th Circuit, ruled in Colorado's favor. Before that, a federal district court held a three-day bench trial, a hearing in which a judge rather than a jury decides the facts, and heard from ten witnesses.
The justices will take up two questions framed around Employment Division v. Smith, an earlier Supreme Court decision on when a neutral law that applies to everyone can be enforced against religious groups. The first asks whether a religious group must show that a law lacks general applicability by proving the government has unfettered discretion, or that it grants categorical exemptions for identical secular conduct. The second asks whether Carson v. Makin, another Supreme Court case, displaces the Smith rule only when the government explicitly excludes religious people and institutions.
The petition asking the Supreme Court to hear the case was filed on November 13, 2025. The court later agreed to review it, and the case is on its October Term 2026 docket. The schools' challenge is now before the justices for argument, and a decision has not yet been issued.
