2026年4月20日 / 美国东部时间上午10:27 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿讯 美国最高法院周一表示，将审理科罗拉多州天主教幼儿园的上诉。这些幼儿园称，它们因只招收信奉教会关于性别和性取向教义的家庭子女，而被排除在州政府资助的全民学前教育项目之外。
这场名为“圣玛丽天主教教区诉罗伊案”的法律纠纷，是近年来涉及宗教实体参与州资助项目的最新案件。目前以6票对3票偏向保守派的最高法院，此前在一系列判决中支持了宗教原告——这些原告主张，他们被迫在接受纳税人资金支持的项目与坚守自身关于婚姻和性取向的真诚宗教信仰之间做出选择。
这场纠纷的核心是1985年“就业Division诉史密斯案”中作出的一项已有35年历史的判决，当时最高法院裁定，负担宗教自由行使的法律通常不违反第一修正案，只要这些法律是中立且普遍适用的。
包括克拉伦斯·托马斯大法官、塞缪尔·阿利托大法官和尼尔·戈萨奇大法官在内的几名保守派大法官，曾暗示应当推翻这项数十年前的判决。但最高法院在受理“圣玛丽天主教教区诉罗伊案”的简短命令中表示，不会考虑是否推翻“就业Division诉史密斯案”的判决。
科罗拉多州全民学前教育项目
这场法律纠纷涉及科罗拉多州的全民学前教育项目，该项目为家庭提供资金，让他们可以将4岁子女送往自选的幼儿园。根据该项目，科罗拉多州所有儿童在入园前一年均可享受每周长达15小时的免费学前教育。项目覆盖公立和私立幼儿园，以及宗教机构和家庭式托管机构。
设立全民学前教育项目的法律包含一项反歧视条款，要求所有托管机构确保儿童享有平等的入学机会，不得因儿童或其父母的宗教信仰、种族、族裔、性取向、性别认同、无住房状况、收入水平或残疾情况而区别对待。
科罗拉多州表示，根据这些所谓的平等机会要求，宗教机构可以自由开展教学，但不得基于儿童或其家庭受保护阶层的身份拒绝招收儿童。
2023年2月，负责管理34所天主教幼儿园的丹佛总教区申请该项目规则的豁免权，允许其幼儿园只招收信奉天主教教义的家庭，包括在性别认同和性取向方面符合教会教义的家庭。总教区警告称，如果该条款强制适用于宗教幼儿园，将限制它们参与全民学前教育项目的能力，“同时又不违背其真诚持有的宗教信仰”。
但州早期儿童教育部拒绝提供此项豁免，并重申“任何托管机构都不得违反州法律，歧视儿童或其家庭”。
2023年8月，丹佛总教区、两个教区以及一名子女在教区学校就读的家庭提起诉讼，质疑州政府拒绝提供所申请豁免的决定。
原告方主张，根据第一修正案的自由实施条款，他们有权获得豁免，因为全民学前教育项目对反歧视要求的豁免使得该项目不再具有中立性和普遍适用性。丹佛总教区和幼儿园方面表示，他们被迫在接受政府资助和坚守宗教信仰之间做出选择，并请求法院下达禁令，禁止州政府针对他们在宗教信仰、性取向和性别认同方面执行反歧视规则。
2024年6月，地区法院作出有利于州政府的判决，认为全民学前教育项目对宗教实践持中立态度且普遍适用，因为该项目不允许其反歧视政策存在任何例外情况。
美国第十巡回上诉法院一致维持了该判决，认为该条款“与第一修正案相符”，并未侵犯教区幼儿园的自由行使宗教权利的权利。第十巡回上诉法院表示，参与全民学前教育项目的所有幼儿园，在招生决策时均不得考虑性取向或性别认同因素。
该上诉法院称赞科罗拉多州的项目是“在保持中立且普遍适用的反歧视法律的同时，努力容纳宗教信仰实践的典范”。
下级法院以合理基础审查标准评估了该法律——这是法院审查法律合宪性时最宽松的审查标准，并认定该法律符合该标准。
在向最高法院提起的上诉中，丹佛总教区及其教区辩称，科罗拉多州不公平地将天主教幼儿园排除在全民学前教育项目之外，同时却为其反歧视规则提供了世俗豁免。
“科罗拉多州的做法非但没有促进‘全民’学前教育，反而减少了受教育机会，迫使家长和儿童转向那些与政府在这些问题上观点一致的幼儿园，并惩罚那些持不同意见的宗教学校和家庭，”他们在提交给最高法院的请愿书中写道。
原告方指出，最高法院在2015年具有里程碑意义的同性婚姻合法化判决中曾表示，当关于婚姻和性取向的教义与世俗信仰产生分歧时，宗教组织将受到第一修正案的保护。
“如果自由实施条款可以如此轻易地被规避，它就无法完成这项重要工作——而最高法院曾将其描述为‘我们多元社会的核心’，”天主教反对者的律师说道。
但州政府官员辩称，天主教学校寻求的豁免将允许它们因儿童或其父母的性取向或性别认同而拒绝招收学龄前儿童。
全民学前教育项目“并不要求托管机构放弃其宗教属性：它明确接纳所有宗教幼儿园，无论其教学内容或授课人员是谁，”他们在一份文件中写道。“UPK（全民学前教育）的平等机会要求反而确保了所有科罗拉多州的父母——包括天主教父母和同性父母——都知道，他们的孩子不会因为属于受保护阶层而被最符合家庭需求的公立资助幼儿园拒之门外。”
特朗普政府支持天主教原告。在一份法庭之友意见书中，该政府敦促最高法院受理此案。副检察长D.约翰·佐尔写道，根据第十巡回上诉法院的裁决，天主教幼儿园“如果想要优先考虑那些在性别认同和性取向方面遵循天主教教义的家庭，就必须放弃国家补贴”。
Supreme Court takes up religious liberty case over Colorado’s universal preschool program
April 20, 2026 / 10:27 AM EDT / CBS News
Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday said it will consider an appeal from Catholic preschools in Colorado that said they were excluded from the state-funded universal preschool program because they sought to admit only children whose families adhere to the church’s teachings on gender and sexual orientation.
The legal fight, known as St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, is the latest to land before the Supreme Court in recent years that involve religious entities’ participation in state-funded programs. In a string of decisions, the high court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has ruled in favor of religious plaintiffs who argued they were forced to choose between participating in initiatives backed by taxpayer dollars and adhering to their sincerely held religious beliefs on marriage and sexuality.
At the center of the dispute is a 35-year-old decision in the case Employment Division v. Smith, in which the Supreme Court held that laws burdening the free exercise of religion typically do not violate the First Amendment so long as they’re neutral and generally applicable.
Several of the conservative justices, including Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, have suggested that decades-old decision should be overruled. But the Supreme Court said in its brief order taking up St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy that it will not consider whether to overturn Employment Division v. Smith.
Colorado’s universal preschool program
The legal battle involves Colorado’s universal preschool program, which provides state funding for families to send their 4-year-olds to the preschool of their choosing. Under the program, all children in Colorado are eligible for up to 15 hours of free preschool each week in the year before they enter kindergarten. It covers public and private preschools, as well as faith-based and in-home providers.
The law establishing the universal preschool program includes a nondiscrimination provision, which requires all providers to ensure children have the equal opportunity to attend regardless of their or their parents’ religious affiliation, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, lack of housing, income level or disability.
The state says that under those so-called equal-opportunity requirements, faith-based providers can teach what they want but cannot decline to enroll children based on their or their families’ protected-class status.
In February 2023, the Archdiocese of Denver, which oversees 34 Catholic preschools, requested an exemption from the program’s rule, which would allow its preschools to admit only families who adhere to the Catholic Church’s teachings, including on gender identity and sexual orientation. The Archdiocese warned that if the provision is enforced against faith-based preschool providers, it would restrict their ability to participate in the universal preschool program “without compromising their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
But the state’s Department of Early Childhood declined to provide the accommodation and reiterated that “no provider may discriminate against children or families in violation of state statute.”
In August 2023, the Archdiocese of Denver, two parishes and a family with children who attend parish schools filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s refusal to grant the requested accommodation.
The plaintiffs argued that they were entitled to an accommodation under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause because the universal preschool program created exemptions to the nondiscrimination requirement that made it not neutral and generally applicable. The Archdiocese and preschools said they were forced to choose between receiving government benefits and their religious beliefs, and they sought a court order preventing the state from enforcing the nondiscrimination rule against them with regards to religious affiliation, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The district court ruled for the state in June 2024, finding that the universal preschool program is neutral toward religious practice and generally applicable, since it does not allow any exceptions from its nondiscrimination policy.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit unanimously upheld that decision, finding that the provision “exists in harmony with the First Amendment” and does not violate the parish preschools’ free exercise rights. No preschool that participates in the universal preschool program is allowed to consider sexual orientation or gender identity when making enrollment decisions, the 10th Circuit said.
The appeals court heralded Colorado’s program as a “model example of maintaining neutral and generally applicable nondiscrimination laws while nonetheless trying to accommodate the exercise of religious beliefs.”
The lower courts evaluated the law under rational-basis review, the least stringent test used by courts when considering the constitutionality of a law, and said it satisfies it.
In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the Archdiocese of Denver and its parishes argued that Colorado unfairly excludes Catholic preschools from its universal preschool program while providing secular exemptions to its nondiscrimination rule.
“Far from facilitating ‘universal’ preschool, Colorado’s exclusion of Catholic preschools reduces access, pushing parents and children toward preschools that share the government’s views on these issues and penalizing the religious schools and families who disagree,” they wrote in their petition with the Supreme Court.
The plaintiffs noted that in its landmark 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court said religious organizations would be protected by the First Amendment when teachings about marriage and sexuality split from secular beliefs.
“The Free Exercise Clause simply cannot do that important work — which this Court has described as ‘at the heart of our pluralistic society’ — if it can be so easily evaded,” lawyers for the Catholic challengers said.
But state officials argued that the Catholic schools are seeking an exemption that would allow them to turn away preschoolers because of their or their parents’ sexual orientation or gender identity.
The universal preschool program “does not require providers to surrender their religious character: it affirmatively includes religious preschools regardless of their curriculum or who teaches it,” they wrote in a filing. “UPK’s equal-opportunity requirements instead ensure that all Colorado parents — Catholic parents as well as same-sex parents— know that their children will not be turned away, because of their protected-class status, from the publicly-funded preschool that best meets their families’ needs.”
The Trump administration is supporting the Catholic plaintiffs. In a friend-of-the-court brief, the administration urged the Supreme Court to take up the case. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote that under the 10th Circuit’s ruling, Catholic preschools “must forgo state subsidies if they want to prefer families who follow Catholic teachings on” gender identity and sexual orientation.