OK Charter School Board v. Drummond

PRELIMINARY PRINT

Volume 605 U. S. Part 1

Pages 165–167

OFFICIAL REPORTS

OF

THE SUPREME COURT

May 22, 2025

REBECCA A. WOMELDORF

reporter of decisions

NOTICE: This preliminary print is subject to formal revision before

the bound volume is published. Users are requested to notify the Reporter

of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543,

pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors.

OCTOBER TERM, 2024 165

Syllabus

OKLAHOMA STATEWIDE CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD

et al. v. DRUMMOND, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF

OKLAHOMA, ex rel. OKLAHOMA

certiorari to the supreme court of oklahoma

No. 24–394. Argued April 30, 2025—Decided May 22, 2025*

2024 OK 53, 558 P. 3d 1, affrmed by an equally divided Court.

James A. Campbell argued the cause for petitioners in No.

24–394. With him on the brief were Kristen K. Waggoner,

Christopher P. Schandevel, Philip A. Sechler, Mark A. Lip-

pelmann, John J. Bursch, Erin M. Hawley, Caroline C.

Lindsay, Andrea R. Dill, and Cheryl Plaxico.

Michael H. McGinley argued the cause for petitioner in

No. 24–396. With him on the briefs fled in both cases were

Steven A. Engel, Brian A. Kulp, John A. Meiser, Meredith

H. Kessler, and Michael R. Perri.

Solicitor General Sauer argued the cause for the United

States as amicus curiae supporting petitioners. On the

brief fled in both cases were Acting Solicitor General Har-

ris, Deputy Assistant Attorney General McArthur, Yaira

Dubin, Michael S. Raab, Lowell V. Sturgill, Jr., and Sean

R. Janda.

Gregory G. Garre argued the cause for respondent in both

cases. With him on the brief fled in both cases were Gent-

ner F. Drummond, Attorney General of Oklahoma, Garry

M. Gaskins II, Solicitor General, Bradley S. Clark, Jordan

R. Goldberg, and Christine C. Smith.†

*Together with No. 24–396, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual

School v. Drummond ex rel. Oklahoma, also on certiorari to the same

court.

†Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal in both cases were fled for the

American Center for Law and Justice et al. by Jay Alan Sekulow, Benja-

min P. Sisney, Jordan A. Sekulow, Stuart J. Roth, and Andrew J. Ekono-

mou; for the Christian Legal Society et al. by Eric W. Treene, Steven T.

McFarland, and Laura Nammo; for Classical Charter Schools of America,

166 OK CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD v. DRUMMOND

Per Curiam

Per Curiam.

The judgment is affrmed by an equally divided Court.

Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration or de-

cision of these cases.

Inc., et al. by Aaron M. Streett, J. Mark Little, and Travis L. Gray; for

the Covenant Journey Academy by Mathew D. Staver, Anita L. Staver,

and Horatio G. Mihet; for EdChoice et al. by Thomas M. Fisher, Bryan

G. Cleveland, Cynthia Fleming Crawford, and Lawrence S. Ebner; for the

General Council of the Assemblies of God et al. by Noel J. Francisco and

Eric C. Rassbach; for Great Hearts Academies et al. by Denise M. Harle,

Nicholas J. P. Meros, and Kassandra S. Reardon; for the Jewish Coalition

for Religious Liberty et al. by Jacob Huebert and Howard Slugh; for the

Lepanto Institute by Gerard V. Bradley; for the Manhattan Institute by

Ilya Shapiro; for National Religious Broadcasters by Michael P. Farris;

for The Rutherford Institute by Jason P. Gosselin and John W. Whitehead;

for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America by Lori H.

Windham, Adèle A. Keim, Benjamin A. Fleshman, Andrea R. Butler, and

Nathan J. Diament; for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

by Benjamin M. Flowers; for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty,

Inc., by Richard M. Esenberg and Luke Berg; for the World Faith Founda-

tion et al. by James L. Hirsen, Tami Fitzgerald, and Deborah J. Dewart;

for Peter Deutsch by Gordon D. Todd and Nicholas R. Reaves; for Charles

L. Glenn by Eric N. Kniffn; for Francis Keating II et al. by Miles E.

Coleman and Randall L. Wenger; for Sen. James Lankford et al. by Mark

I. Pinkert, Jason Torchinsky, and Edward M. Wenger; for John M. O'Con-

nor et al. by Thomas R. McCarthy and Tiffany H. Bates; for Gov. J. Kevin

Stitt by Jonathan R. Whitehead; for Ryan Walters et al. by Allyson N.

Ho, Elizabeth A. Kiernan, Kelly J. Shackelford, Jeffrey C. Mateer, Hiram

S. Sasser III, David J. Hacker, Anthony J. Ferate, and Andrew W. Lester;

for S. Ernie Walton by Christopher T. Holinger; and for the Wolff Family

by Will K. Wright.

Briefs of amici curiae urging affrmance in both cases were fled for the

Advancement Project et al. by Carmen Daugherty; for American Atheists,

Inc., by Geoffrey T. Blackwell; for the Baptist Joint Committee for Reli-

gious Liberty et al. by David M. Gossett, Thaila K. Sundaresan, K. Hol-

lyn Hollman, and Heather E. Kimmel; for the Charter School Growth

Fund by Jonathan Y. Ellis and H. Brent McKnight, Jr.; for Charter

Schools by Christopher A. Brook; for Constitutional and Education Law

Scholars by Stephan J. Schlegelmilch; for Historians and Legal Scholars

Cite as: 605 U. S. 165 (2025) 167

Per Curiam

by Charles A. Rothfeld, Steven K. Green, and Eugene R. Fidell; for the

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools by Pratik A. Shah and Kris-

ten E. Loveland; for the National Association of Charter School Authoriz-

ers by Lisa Scruggs; for the National Parents Union et al. by Seth P. Wax-

man and James S. Liebman; for the Oklahoma Parent Legislative

Advocacy Coalition et al. by Alex J. Luchenitser, Robert Kim, Jessica

Levin, Daniel Mach, Heather L. Weaver, Cecillia D. Wang, Louise Mell-

ing, Patrick Elliott, Benjamin H. Odom, John H. Sparks, Michael W.

Ridgeway, and J. Douglas Mann; for Public Charter School Organizations

by Paul E. Salamanca; for Public Charter School Parents et al. by Dallas

F. Kratzer III and Shaina Richardson; for Public School Organizations

and Advocates by Daniel A. Rubens, Alyssa Barnard-Yanni, Melanie R.

Hallums, and Thomas M. Bondy; and for Scholars of the Religion Clauses

by Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., and Martin S. Lederman.

Briefs of amici curiae were fled in both cases for the State of Colorado

et al. by Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General of Colorado, Shannon Steven-

son, Solicitor General, Russell D. Johnson, Deputy Solicitor General, Joe

Peters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Abby Chestnut and Dayna

Zolle Hauser, Assistant Solicitors General, and by the Attorneys General

for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Kris Mayes of Arizona, Rob

Bonta of California, William Tong of Connecticut, Kathleen Jennings of

Delaware, Brian L. Schwalb of the District of Columbia, Kwame Raoul

of Illinois, Aaron M. Frey of Maine, Anthony G. Brown of Maryland, An-

drea Joy Campbell of Massachusetts, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Aaron

D. Ford of Nevada, Matthew J. Platkin of New Jersey, Raúl Torrez of

New Mexico, Letitia A. James of New York, Dan Rayfeld of Oregon,

Peter F. Neronha of Rhode Island, and Nicholas W. Brown of Washington

State; for the State of South Carolina et al. by Alan Wilson, Attorney

General of South Carolina, Robert D. Cook, Solicitor General, and Joseph

D. Spate, Assistant Deputy Solicitor General, and by the Attorneys Gen-

eral for their respective States as follows: Steve Marshall of Alabama, Tim

Griffn of Arkansas, James Uthmeier of Florida, Christopher M. Carr of

Georgia, Kris Kobach of Kansas, Liz Murrill of Louisiana, Andrew Bailey

of Missouri, Austin Knudsen of Montana, Michael T. Hilgers of Nebraska,

Dave Yost of Ohio, and Ken Paxton of Texas; for the Association on Ameri-

can Indian Affairs et al. by John E. Echohawk, Melody L. McCoy, and

Morgan E. Saunders; for Former Elected and Appointed State Offcials

et al. by Joshua Tropper; for the Foundation for Moral Law by Roy S.

Moore and Jeffrey Tuomala; and for Jon R. Meador, pro se.

Reporter’s Note

The attached opinion has been revised to refect the usual publication

and citation style of the United States Reports. The revised pagination

makes available the offcial United States Reports citation in advance of

publication. The syllabus has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions

for the convenience of the reader and constitutes no part of the opinion of

the Court. A list of counsel who argued or fled briefs in this case, and

who were members of the bar of this Court at the time this case was

argued, has been inserted following the syllabus. Other revisions may

include adjustments to formatting, captions, citation form, and any errant

punctuation. The following additional edits were made:

None