GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments today in a case that could clear the way for publicly funded religious charter schools.

Our John Yang has more.

JOHN YANG: Geoff, in 2023, the Oklahoma Charter School Board approved the creation of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, the nation's first publicly funded religious charter school.

But the state Supreme Court blocked it, saying it violated the Oklahoma Constitution's bar on using state money for religious education.

The head of the state charter school board told the "News Hour" that St. Isidore would benefit Oklahoma.

BRIAN SHELLEM, Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board: We have an educational crisis, and my opinion is that we need everybody to join in and help.

And I'm hopeful that we will be able to enlist those who are very capable, just like St. Isidore, to come to the table and say, hey, let's get the job done and provide better outcomes for the families of Oklahoma and the children of our future.

JOHN YANG: But Erika Wright, the founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, said religious education has no place in public schools.

ERIKA WRIGHT, Founder, Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition: We have two kids in public school right now, and we chose to send them there because we want them to get a quality secular education, while our family and our trusted pastors guide their religious education.

JOHN YANG: "News Hour" Supreme Court analyst Marcia Coyle was in the courtroom for the arguments today.

Marcia, the courtroom was a little different than usual.

There were only eight justices on the bench.

Why is that?

MARCIA COYLE: Well, John, that's because Justice Barrett decided to step aside from this case.

Now, she didn't give any particular reason for that.

In fact, she never does.

But it's sort of assumed that it's because St. Isidore, the Catholic school that's at the Supreme Court, is being represented by the Religious Liberty Clinic of Notre Dame Law School, where Justice Barrett taught for many years before becoming a judge.

And she's also a very close friend of a law professor there who's been a leading advocate of religious charter schools.

So I think maybe that's what persuaded her to step aside.

JOHN YANG: This creates the potential for a tie vote.

What would happen in that case?

MARCIA COYLE: Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

It raises the risk of a tie vote.

What happens then is that there's -- really it's the lower court decision that stands.

And if that happens here, that means the Oklahoma Supreme Court decision that was against St. Isidore would stand.

It doesn't create a precedent.

It just doesn't even resolve the issue.

The court simply issues a one-sentence order that says, because of the tie vote, the lower court opinion is affirmed.

JOHN YANG: Now, what was the charter school side's argument about why this doesn't violate the prohibition on secular -- I'm sorry -- on sectarian education in public schools?

MARCIA COYLE: Well, first of all, St. -- the board, the Oklahoma State Charter School Board, is the entity that brought the case to the Supreme Court and St. Isidore with it as well.

And they claim that Oklahoma charter schools are run -- operated by private organizations.

And so is St. Isidore run by a private organization, the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa -- the city of Tulsa.

And because of that, the argument goes, they fit within a trio of recent cases by the Supreme Court that say if you hold out a public benefit to private organizations, you can't discriminate just because an organization is religious.

So that is their argument.

And there was considerable pushback not only from the state attorney general, who is the one who sought the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that this is an illegal contract, but, for example, Justice Kagan was looking at charter schools and said they seem like public schools.

They're free.

They're open to everyone.

The state supervises the curriculum.

They have to meet certain standards that can be audited and the state can even close them.

And Justice Jackson also pushed back at the state board, basically saying, I don't think you're looking for this public benefit that everybody has.

I think you're looking for a public benefit that no one has, because she explained in their contract with the state board they X'ed out the requirement that curriculum be secular.

They amended the requirement that there be no discrimination in order to accommodate church autonomy interests.

And she said that -- no charter school has that.

So there was considerable pushback from the liberal side of the court.

The -- Oklahoma's attorney general was saying that while it's true that private organizations operate the charter schools, these are public schools.

They have always been public schools.

The public understands them to be public schools.

And they're over - - there's a lot of supervision by the state.

That's what they are.

They are public schools.

JOHN YANG: So after listening to the arguments, what's your sense of where this is headed?

MARCIA COYLE: Well, if you look at the trend in the Supreme Court, you probably would say, based on the arguments that some made -- and I will just note one, Justice Kavanaugh, who said in Oklahoma charter schools can organize around the theme.

They can be sports.

It can be language immersion.

It can be STEM, math, English.

The only thing it can't be is religion.

And he said that's rank -- this sounds like rank discrimination to me.

And so I think that bottom line is there could be a conservative majority in favor of St. Isidore.

But that eight justice number on the court which it sets up the possibility of a 4-4 split, it may be that it's the chief justice who will make the difference here.

He played his cards very close to the vest, asked questions of each side, and we will just have to wait and see how it turns out.

JOHN YANG: Marcia Coyle, thank you very much.

We should note that this is the last time we will be talking to Marcia Coyle about the Supreme Court.

Tell us what you're going to be doing.

MARCIA COYLE: Well, John, I'm hoping to spend more time actually writing about the Supreme Court.

I will continue to follow it and write for the National Constitution Center, which I have been doing a little bit of, but not as much as I probably should be doing.

And also I will be spending, I assume, more time with my grandchildren that I have.

JOHN YANG: Your two adorable grandchildren.

MARCIA COYLE: But I have to say before I go, John, that you know by training and many years of experience, I have been a newspaper reporter, which I have really loved, but I have also felt it was an honor to experience the world of television news, and the very best television news, which is the "News Hour."

All of you here, whether you're in front of the camera, behind the camera, in the makeup room, in the control room or digital, are real professionals and genuinely kind people.

So it's been a pleasure.

JOHN YANG: We are deeply grateful to you for what you have been doing for us all these years, and we wish you well.

MARCIA COYLE: Thanks, John.

If you ever need me, you know my number.