The House Committee on Education and Workforce says, 35 GOP representatives and eight senators, spoke out in the case of St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy.
The case began when the Colorado Universal Preschool Program Act opened the door for a new funding program by the state’s Department of Early Childhood to help families with preschool costs. However, while being “universal,” the program did not allow Catholic schools to participate in the program, leaving families of those schools ineligible because Catholic teaching didn’t align with the program’s requirements.
The Catholic schools, under the state’s non-discrimination agreement, would be forced to admit students whose sexual orientation and gender identity contradict Christian beliefs.
AFN reported previously on the case in the November 2025, when the Tenth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals sided with the state’s decision, claiming the schools’ religious expression and speech rights were not violated. According to Beckett senior counsel, Nick Reaves, no choice remained but to petition the Supreme Court.
Along with urging the protection of faith-based schools’ constitutional rights, the amicus brief, led by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), warns the court that affirming the Tenth Circuit’s decision “could undermine Congress's tax credit scholarship program established under the Working Families Tax Cuts.”
St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy could impact a similar case unfolding in Maine.
A federal appeals court has ruled that private Christian schools in Maine that participate in the state's public tuition program must abide by Maine's anti-discrimination laws.
Essentially, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals decided that if a private religious school chooses to accept public taxpayer money, it cannot opt out of state civil rights protections. Under these rules, schools receiving these funds are prohibited from discriminating against students or staff based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and religion.
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Alabama), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, spoke on “Washington Watch” about the Colorado legislation. As one of the Republicans who filed the brief, he believes this to be religious discrimination.
“As I have thought about this case, one thing that any state could do, if this is allowed to move forward, they could find things that the church would disagree with in their schools and just tailor it so that no religious schools could be able to get any funding,” Aderholt states.
While the Colorado program affords families a chance to send their child to a school of their choice, he points out that there is a catch.
“The private school can't be really affiliated with the religion. It doesn't say that on its face, but if you look in the details of the bill, really, that's what it's saying because, obviously, you're going to have religious schools that will have teachings on sex and gender,” Aderholt says.
That’s why, he says, the state is making it where religious schools are prohibited even though both private and public schools would be eligible.
Basically, he continues, the state is trying to exclude any religious schools and teachings.
Critics of the legislation point out that this means Chistian schools need to abandon their religious beliefs to get money from the government, a clear First Amendment problem.
“If this was allowed to move forward, as some of the lower courts have said it can, then that's really going to be a discrimination for religious freedom in this country, especially when you're dealing with schools that have any religious content,” Aderholt explains.
Establishment Clause concerns
Supporters of the legislation, critics point out, are standing behind the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." The clause was originally intended to keep the government out of churches and Christian organizations, not ban U.S. citizens of one belief from receiving government support available to citizens of other beliefs.
Aderholt says this case will be heard before the Supreme Court in October. He says he’s not surprised that this law came out of Colorado, but he is concerned this will open the door for other states to do the same if the high court allows it.
“I think it will give a real chance for the U.S. Supreme Court to really make it clear that just because you're religious schools and you do have certain positions on sex and gender, that should not exclude you from being able to accept students that would like to go to your school,” Aderholt states.
