Trump-appointed judge rules blue state cannot discriminate against colleges requiring religious test

A Trump-appointed judge on Friday overturned a Minnesota law that prohibited religious institutions from qualifying for the state’s high school dual enrollment program if the schools require students to align with a faith statement.

The state in 2023 amended the requirements for institutions participating in the Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program, disqualifying religious schools that administered religious tests to ensure admitted students aligned with the school’s values. The Friday ruling declared the amendment infringed on the First Amendment by not allowing schools and families to freely exercise religion.

“If the Schools’ eligibility to participate in PSEO is conditioned on not using faith statements as an admissions requirement, their free exercise in maintaining a campus community of like‐minded believers is burdened,” the court ruling reads. “Likewise, if the Families cannot obtain the public benefit of PSEO reimbursement for their children at a school of their choice of like‐minded believers, their free exercise is also burdened.”

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

The plaintiffs in the case, several Minnesota families and religious colleges, argued that the requirements burdened “their free exercise by ‘forc[ing them] to choose between participating in PSEO and maintaining their faith statements (or choosing schools) that accord with their religious beliefs,’” according to the court ruling.

The ruling also noted that the religious colleges in the lawsuit have received millions of dollars from the state in previous years through the PSEO program and have admitted “a substantial and growing number of applicants to their PSEO programs,” meaning both the institutions and families would be harmed if the state no longer allowed the religious schools’ participation in the program.

“These faith statement requirements are means for the Schools to achieve the ends of limiting admission and giving preference to applicants who share their religious beliefs,” the ruling concluded. “Thus, the Schools’ PSEO admissions practices are exempt from the MHRA’s proscriptions against unfair discriminatory practices under the education exemption for ‘religious or denominational institution[s].’”

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