Friend:

The billion-dollar Shadow Network of religious extremists wants to turn public charter schools into public religious schools. Charter schools are public schools – not Sunday schools. But the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa are demanding the right to run a taxpayer-subsidized virtual charter school that would indoctrinate students in religion and discriminate against students, families and employees. 

Official religious public schools would – needless to say – be a sea change in America. It’s no surprise this application is supported by one of the newer members of the Shadow Network – Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Clinic. Formed in 2020, the clinic has powerful ties to ultra-conservative members of the Supreme Court. Its director clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch; just weeks after the Dobbs opinion overturned Roe v. Wade, it hosted a religious liberty conference in Rome at which Justice Samuel Alito demanded privilege for and deference to conservative Christians; and Justice Amy Coney Barrett taught at Notre Dame until her Supreme Court appointment.

The legal clinic has filed a slew of briefs in Supreme Court religion cases, usually on the opposite side of AU, including in support of the public school coach who wanted to impose prayer on students in our Kennedy v. Bremerton case; in the case that forced Maine taxpayers to fund religious education; and in a case that forced Boston to display a Christian flag in front of its city hall. All while the clinic’s director was clerking for Gorsuch.*

Notre Dame’s Religious Liberty Clinic wants to force taxpayers across the nation to fund religious public charter schools: “I hope that St. Isidore may be the first of many faith-based charter schools to work with states … around the country,” one of its directors said in a statement this week.

Americans United is taking this threat seriously. We’ve provided Oklahoma officials with expert legal analysis on why the U.S. Constitution, the Oklahoma Constitution and state statutes require public charter schools to provide secular education and be open to all students. Our Senior Litigation Counsel (and native Oklahoman) Kenneth Upton flew to Oklahoma City this week to testify in person and urge the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to reject the application to create the nation’s first religious public charter school (you can watch his testimony here). And I made an appearance on Tulsa local television, declaring that we are ready to take legal action to defend Oklahomans’ religious freedom if this religious school’s application is granted.

The situation in Oklahoma is a potent reminder that we need a national recommitment to the separation of church and state. This problem affects everyone. With your support, we’ll lead the fight in Oklahoma and every state in the country to secure a nation of freedom without favor and equality without exception. 

With hope and determination,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO

*AU has not been able to confirm whether the clinical director took a leave of absence during the clerkship, but the law school bragged that “Notre Dame is the only law school that has a faculty member and a graduate on this year’s roster of clerks.”