In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a measure that had been designed to openly discriminate against Christian schools. But many states, including Oklahoma, are refusing to heed the High Court’s order and are continuing this prejudicial practice to this day.

Our latest Supreme Court brief, in Oklahoma v. Drummond, seeks to end the discrimination against Christian schools once and for all.

Fight discrimination against Christian schools by supporting our legal fund today! A special Challenge Grant will DOUBLE the impact of your gift.

In the early 1900s, Senator James G. Blaine fought to change the First Amendment so that it would restrict religious freedom. Church schools were popping up across the nation, nearly all from a single faith tradition — mainly Catholic — which infuriated him.

A popular movement and party of the time avidly opposed Catholicism because of its association with Irish immigrants, who were considered subhuman by many of the era’s popular “eugenics” proponents.

Senator Blaine’s outrageous attempt to change the First Amendment passed the House but failed by just four votes in the Senate. Though Blaine and his compatriots were unable to change the U.S. Constitution, many took his discriminatory work and put it into state constitutions. These are called “Blaine Amendments.”

The State of Oklahoma incorporated the Blaine Amendment into its state constitution in 1907, and is now using that amendment to discriminate against Christian schools.

“The Blaine amendment represented an effort to suppress Catholic education while allowing state funding of protestant-oriented schools,” said Oklahoma State Senator Rob Standridge in 2015. “Many Oklahomans ... have expressed dismay such a discriminatory provision was still in our constitution.”

Oklahoma offers state-funded charter schools. In 2023, St. Isidore Catholic School was approved to participate in the charter school system. But OK Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed suit to revoke St. Isidore’s charter solely because of the school’s religion.

Drummond’s move is pure religious discrimination because a state cannot disqualify institutions based solely on their religious character.

The Supreme Court ruled on this issue in the 2020 case Espinoza v. Montana and again in the 2022 case Carson v. Makin, wherein the Court said that states must not discriminate against religious schools. But OK AG Drummond apparently didn’t get the memo, so the issue is back before the High Court.

Liberty Counsel is once again fighting to end discrimination against Christian organizations and schools.

Help us win!

Now, you might not be Catholic. Neither am I. But it is a serious violation of the First Amendment to allow the government to pick and choose which faith or denomination it prefers. If Oklahoma can discriminate against St. Isidore Catholic Schools, then Maine can discriminate against Calvary Chapel (another of our major cases), and every church or religious institution in the country will be in the crosshairs.

It is worth noting here that Blaine was the senator for the state of Maine — the same state we have been battling since 2020 for discriminating against Christians, and which has repeatedly attacked and discriminated against our client, Calvary Chapel’s network of churches.

An attack on religious freedom is an attack on us all. Please, stand with us as we once again fight to end religious discrimination, and a special Challenge Grant will DOUBLE the impact of your donation. Your generous single gift that will be DOUBLED by our Challenge Grant or a recurring monthly donation would go a long way in helping our fight.

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26-28).

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

P.S. Help us defend the defenders of our freedom. DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT with our Challenge Grant.

P.P.S. Join us for our 2025 Gala on April 5 with keynote speaker Congressman Byron Donalds, along with his wife, Erika. The theme is “A New Birth of Freedom.” Register now!

Sources:

“Full Senate Approves Proposed State Question on Repealing Oklahoma’s Blaine Amendment.” Oklahoma Senate, March 7, 2016. OKsenate.gov/press-releases/full-senate-approves-proposed-state-question-repealing-oklahomas-blaine-amendment.

“Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond.” SCOTUSblog. Accessed March 7, 2025. SCOTUSblog.com/case-files/cases/oklahoma-statewide-charter-school-board-v-drummond/.

Zeitz, Josh. “When America Hated Catholics.” POLITICO Magazine, September 23, 2015. Politico.com/magazine/story/2015/09/when-america-hated-catholics-213177/.