The U.S. solicitor general has joined a broad coalition urging the Supreme Court to strike down Colorado’s exclusion of Catholic preschools from the state’s universal preschool program, arguing the policy unconstitutionally discriminates against religious exercise and imposes unlawful conditions on public benefits.
The case, St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, centers on Colorado’s decision to bar two Catholic parishes in the Denver area—St. Mary in Littleton and St. Bernadette in Lakewood—from participating in the state’s subsidized preschool initiative because the schools operate according to Catholic teaching on marriage, sexuality, and employment. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in fall 2026, after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Colorado’s policy in September 2025.
Religious Liberty Versus Public Benefits
The solicitor general’s brief frames the dispute as a choice imposed on faith-based institutions: “They can either adhere to their faith, which precludes enrolling families who refuse to adhere to Catholic teachings, and lose the subsidy, or obtain the subsidy but abandon their religious beliefs.” This formulation, the brief argues, violates the First Amendment by conditioning participation in a generally available public benefit on abandonment of religious conviction.
Dan and Lisa Sheley, Catholic parents of seven children attending St. Mary’s, expressed frustration with the state’s position. “Colorado promised preschool for all but then showed Catholic families the door. That’s unfair to parents, unfair to children, and contrary to the spirit of the Constitution’s promise of religious freedom,” they said.
Broad Coalition of Support
Support for the Catholic schools extends across state lines and partisan lines. More than 20 states filed briefs in favor of the preschools, as did 43 Republican members of Congress. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops submitted a brief as well. In total, 29 friend-of-the-court briefs have been filed supporting the schools, and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represents the parishes in the case.
Precedent and Next Steps
The case follows three recent Supreme Court decisions that strengthened religious liberty protections: Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer (2017), which prohibited states from denying generally available benefits on account of religious status; Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (2020), which extended that principle to tax-credit scholarship programs; and Carson v. Makin (2022), which held that states cannot exclude religious schools from generally available education funding.
The Catholic schools’ legal challenge rests on similar reasoning: if Colorado offers preschool subsidies to all families, it cannot exclude families simply because they choose to enroll their children in schools operated according to Catholic religious beliefs. The state’s rationale—that the schools’ religious hiring and admissions standards conflict with anti-discrimination law—has been upheld by the 10th Circuit but will now be tested before the nation’s highest court.
The case represents a significant religious liberty test in an election year, touching on the intersection of education, parental choice, and the conditions the state may attach to public funding. Oral arguments and a decision are expected during the Supreme Court’s 2026-2027 term.