Two leading scholars of the First Amendment’s religion clauses, Stephanie Barclay of Georgetown Law and Marci Hamilton of the University of Pennsylvania, discuss Saint Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, an important First Amendment religious liberty case being argued before the Supreme Court. At issue is what the State of Colorado describes as a universal preschool program that provides state funds to help families send their children to the preschool of their choice. All Colorado schools—both secular and religious—are eligible for this funding. However, participating schools must meet certain state standards and sign a non-discrimination agreement that requires them to “provide eligible children an equal opportunity to enroll and receive preschool services regardless of race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, lack of housing, income level, or disability.” The Catholic preschools challenging the Colorado program in this case have been excluded from Colorado’s program and are challenging this exclusion on First Amendment grounds—rooting their arguments in the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. Tom Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, moderates.
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This episode was produced and mixed by Bill Pollock. With production support from Charles Sahm. Research was provided by Sebastian Ramirez, Anna Salvatore, and Tristan Worsham.
Participants
Stephanie Barclay is a is a professor of Law and Anne Fleming Research Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, and the faculty director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Her writing and research focus on the role our different democratic institutions play in protecting minority rights. Barclay has also litigated constitutional cases at both the trial and appellate level, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. Barclay served as a law clerk to Judge N. Randy Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and to Justice Neil M. Gorsuch of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Marci Hamilton is professor of practice in the Department of Political Science and Fox Family Pavilion Non-resident Senior Fellow in the Program for Research on Religion at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the founder of CHILD USA, a nonprofit think tank that pairs cutting-edge legal analysis with original social science research to improve laws and policies related to child abuse and neglect. Before joining the faculty at Penn, Hamilton held the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University.
Tom Donnelly is lead scholar at the National Constitution Center and a law professor at the University of Richmond. Prior to joining the Center in 2016, he served as counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center, as a Climenko Fellow and lecturer on law at Harvard Law School, and as a law clerk for Judge Thomas Ambro on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Additional Resources
- The First Amendment, National Constitution Center
- St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy (oral argument audio via C-SPAN; argument transcript)
- Stephanie Barclay, Brief of Amicus Curiae Stephanie Barclay in Support of Petitioners (2026)
- Marci Hamilton, Brief of Amici Curiae of New Ways Ministry et al. (2026)
- Stephanie Barclay, “St. Mary and the shrinking reach of Smith,” SCOTUSblog, (Nov. 5, 2026)
- Linda Greenhouse, “This Case Has Flown Under the Radar. It Won’t Stay There,” The New York Times, (Sept. 30, 2026)
- “Supreme Court set for arguments in another major religion case,” Mark Sherman for Constitution Daily Blog, National Constitution Center, (Oct. 29, 2026)
- Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025)
- Carson v. Makin (2022)
- Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue (2020)
- Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer (2017)
- Rosenberger V. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995)
- Employment Division v. Smith (1990)
- Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
- “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments,” James Madison (1785), National Constitution Center
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