Oklahoma Supreme Court will hear arguments in Catholic virtual charter school case on April 2

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday set a date to hear oral arguments in state Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s lawsuit to stop the creation of what would be the nation’s first public religious charter school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Charter School.

The court set 10 a.m. April 2 to hear the arguments during an en banc hearing in the Supreme Court’s courtroom at the state Capitol.

According to the filing, each side will have 30 minutes to present its oral arguments, with Drummond being able to reserve a portion of his 30 minutes for a rebuttal. Justices may ask questions during or after each argument.

The court instructed attorneys to file a notice by March 19, providing the justices the names of attorneys who will be arguing the case and those who will be sitting at the attorneys’ tables in the courtroom during the hearing, as well as the expected allocation of their argument time, if applicable.

The court said the oral arguments will be livestreamed, with real-time closed captioning being displayed. A public link to the stream will be made available on the Supreme Court’s website.

Drummond filed his lawsuit against the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School board on Oct. 20 after the board, by a 3-2 vote, approved St. Isidore's establishment. Drummond has warned that approval of the Catholic charter school might eventually force Oklahoma to fund schools teaching Sharia law.

Twice, state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters has tried to intervene in the case and both times, the state Supreme Court denied his motion to do so. Walters supports the formation of the school, saying its existence would promote religious liberty and provide another school choice for Oklahoma parents.

Gov. Kevin Stitt also is a supporter and he recently named Nellie Sanders, a former member of the board who voted to approve St. Isidore’s creation, as Oklahoma’s education secretary.

Drummond’s lawsuit is one of two challenges facing the Statewide Virtual Charter School board over the creation of St. Isidore. The first legal challenge came in July, in a lawsuit filed in Oklahoma County District Court by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, the Education Law Center and Freedom from Religion Foundation and others.

That case had a new judge, Richard Ogden, assigned to it last month and no hearing dates have been set.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: State Supreme Court sets date to hear Catholic charter school case