By John Kruzel
WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear a bid by the Archdiocese of Denver and other Catholic entities to be exempted from a Colorado preschool funding program's nondiscrimination requirement in the latest clash between religious rights and LGBT protections at the nation's top judicial body.
The justices took up an appeal of a lower court's decision that found that Colorado's program did not violate the religious rights of the Catholic plaintiffs
under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.
The program provides state funds for preschools. The Catholic plaintiffs objected to the state's requirement that schools receiving funding under the program give all children "equal opportunity" to enroll in preschool regardless of certain characteristics, including the sexual orientation or gender identity of students or their family members.
The Archdiocese of Denver oversees 34 Catholic preschools.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case in its next term, which begins in October. President Donald Trump's administration backed the request by the Catholic plaintiffs for the justices to hear the case.
The Catholic plaintiffs claimed that Colorado's program pushes families toward preschools that "share the government's views on these issues," thereby penalizing religious schools and families who disagree.
Referring to the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide, the lawyers for the plaintiffs told the justices in a filing that the court had promised "that religious groups would be protected when they dissent from secular orthodoxies about marriage and sexuality."
The lawyers for the plaintiffs cited the First Amendment provision protecting freedom of religious exercise.
"The Free Exercise Clause simply cannot do that important
work - which this court has described as 'at the heart of our pluralistic society' - if it can be so easily evaded," they wrote.
Colorado has argued that its equal-opportunity requirements do not intrude on the Free Exercise Clause because they are neutral and apply generally to participating groups.
The parties disagree over whether the state's preschool program creates a carveout for certain secular purposes, such as to prioritize children from low-income families or those with disabilities, while refusing exemptions for religious reasons.
A Colorado-based federal judge in 2024 sided with Colorado officials' defense of the program. The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling last year, prompting the current appeal to the Supreme Court.
(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)
