'An earthquake': Mysterious recusal could shake up pivotal Supreme Court religion case

On April 30 , the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a legal question that has defined her career: Can explicitly religious organizations operate charter schools? At the center of the dispute is St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School , an online school in Oklahoma .

Observers say the longtime friendship between the two women threatens to tip the scales away from a cause Garnett has spent her career defending.

Richard Garnett helped recruit Barrett to the boutique Washington law firm where he worked.

Garnett and Barrett overlapped as faculty members for roughly 17 years at Notre Dame .

Barrett cast her vote for the majority in the 2022 decision that struck down Roe v. Wade .

The New Yorker published a profile that described the newest justice as a “product of a Christian legal movement”.

Catholic school leaders in Oklahoma City and Tulsa wanted to expand virtual options and “reach more kids in a big rural state,” she said.

A widely-circulated 2020 paper she wrote for the right-wing Manhattan Institute offered a legal path to get there.

Garnett dismissed the idea that a victory for St. Isidore will open the floodgates to thousands of religious schools becoming charters.