The justices heard arguments on an Oklahoma court decision last year that rejected a state contract to open St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a bid led by two Catholic dioceses to establish in Oklahoma the nation's first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in a major test of religious rights and the separation of church and state in American education.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that publicly funding the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would entangle church and state in violation of the First Amendment.