WASHINGTON − A divided Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the creation of the nation's first religious charter school, a major loss for those advocating a greater role for religion in public life.

The charter school case is one of several major religious rights cases the Supreme Court will be deciding before its term ...

With only eight justices voting, the 4-4 tie leaves in place an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that a public religious charter school would violate the separation of church and state.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett's absence due to recusal was key to the outcome of the case, and the issue could return to the court in the future to be heard before all its members.

The case, a major test of the separation of church and state, was an unexpected loss for those advocating a greater role for ...

A split Supreme Court ruling upholds a lower court decision that prohibited Oklahoma from establishing the nation's first Christian charter school.

The justices announced they were split 4-4 in a test case heard last month from Oklahoma, which blocks the new Catholic charter school in the state.

The Supreme Court on Thursday, in a 4-4 ruling, said Oklahoma cannot create the nation's first religious charter school funded directly with taxpayer dollars.

Recently, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) preserved that promise by upholding a lower court ruling in ...