Colorado's Religious Preschool Restrictions Violate Religious Liberty and Will Likely Be Overturned
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Supreme Court to Rule on Religious Preschool Case | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." May 1, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author argues that Colorado keeps trying to restrict religious freedom and keeps losing at the Supreme Court. In this new case about Catholic preschools, Colorado is being hypocritical by allowing exceptions for some groups but not religious ones, so the Supreme Court will probably rule against Colorado again.
Conclusion
Colorado's denial of religious accommodation to Catholic preschools in its universal preschool program violates religious liberty and will likely be overturned by the Supreme Court
Premises
- Colorado has a pattern of losing religious liberty cases at the Supreme Court, having lost three major cases (Masterpiece Cakeshop, 303 Creative, and Chiles v. Salazar) by decisive margins
- The Supreme Court has ruled three times in the past 10 years that governments cannot exclude religious parties from generally available public benefits simply because of their religious beliefs
- Colorado's preschool program allows exceptions for various identity groups (children of color, LGBTQ community, etc.) but denies the same accommodation to religious groups
- The state's universal preschool program is generally available to all families regardless of background, making religious exclusion constitutionally problematic
- Requiring religious institutions to compromise their beliefs to participate in public programs places an unconstitutional burden on free exercise of religion
Assumptions
- Religious liberty deserves strong constitutional protection
- Past Supreme Court precedent on religious liberty cases is predictive of future rulings
- Equal treatment requires that if secular exceptions are granted, religious exceptions should also be considered
- The current Supreme Court composition favors religious liberty claims