Supreme Court Takes Up Colorado Catholic-Preschool Case, Will Revisit When Religious-Freedom Exemptions Apply to State Programs
The Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy (No. 25-581), a challenge from the Archdiocese of Denver to Colorado's Universal Preschool Program, which denied religious-exemption requests from Catholic preschools that decline to admit students based on gender identity or sexual orientation. The Court will decide, in the 2026-2027 term, how Employment Division v. Smith and Carson v. Makin apply when a state offers a generally available funding benefit with a nondiscrimination condition.
The U.S. Supreme Court granted review Monday in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, Docket No. 25-581, a First Amendment challenge brought by the Archdiocese of Denver and two of its parishes over Colorado's refusal to grant them a religious exemption to the nondiscrimination requirements of the state's Universal Preschool Program.
Per the docket entry for April 20, the Court's grant was "limited to Questions 1 and 2 presented by the petition." The respondent is Lisa Roy, in her official capacity as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.
What Colorado's program does
Colorado's Universal Preschool Program, launched in 2023, offers 15 hours per week of free preschool to all children in the year before kindergarten, through public, private, faith-based, and in-home providers. The state's nondiscrimination provision requires participating providers to admit children without regard to — among other protected characteristics — religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and gender identity (of the child or the parents).
The Archdiocese of Denver oversees 34 Catholic preschools. In February 2023 it requested a religious exemption that would let its preschools admit only families who adhere to Catholic teaching on sexuality and gender identity while still participating in the state funding program. Colorado's Department of Early Childhood declined, citing the statutory nondiscrimination rule. The Archdiocese, two parishes, and a parent family sued in August 2023.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled for Colorado on September 30, 2025 (No. 24-1267), and the parishes filed their cert petition on November 13, 2025.
The Questions Presented
The two questions on which the Court granted review are both doctrinal — they go to how existing Supreme Court precedents interact, not to the Colorado program's policy merits:
- Whether proving a lack of "general applicability" under Employment Division v. Smith (1990) requires showing unfettered discretion or categorical exemptions for identical secular conduct.