For Immediate Release:
November 19, 2025
For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
William Califf (334) 604-3230
(Montgomery, Ala) – Attorney General Steve Marshall joined a 20-state coalition filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in support of Darren Patterson Christian Academy, a Colorado preschool that was barred from participating in the state’s universal preschool program because of its religious beliefs.
Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood conditioned participation in the program on the school abandoning its religiously based policies on bathrooms, dress codes, and pronouns—requirements the coalition argues violate the First Amendment.
“Colorado’s attack on a Christian preschool’s religious beliefs is unconstitutional discrimination,” Attorney General Marshall said. “When a state can strong-arm religious schools into abandoning their convictions, that threat doesn’t stop at its borders. What Colorado is doing today may be used against Alabama churches, Alabama schools, and Alabama families tomorrow. We will not allow that. Parents deserve real choices, not government coercion, and we will fight to protect those freedoms.”
The amicus brief outlines how religious preschools play a critical role in serving families by providing additional, often more affordable options; supporting underserved communities; and helping parents direct the upbringing of their children. The brief emphasizes that states across the country have long partnered with faith-based providers in early-childhood education and that the Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected efforts to exclude religious schools from public benefits.
Attorney General Marshall joined the brief alongside South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Alaska.
To read the full brief, click here.
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