The Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 on whether to approve the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school on Thursday, leaving intact a lower ruling that voided the Oklahoma school’s contract.

“The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court,” the court wrote in its one-sentence, unsigned opinion.

Only eight justices sat for the case, since Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused.

The decision lets stand a ruling from the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejecting the bid to establish St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which spurred a major constitutional battle over the role of religion in state-funded education.

The deadlocked opinion from the nation’s highest court landed swiftly, just weeks after the justices heard the case at the end of April.

It marks the culmination of a multi-year, high-profile legal battle over religious rights that began after the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board approved St. Isidore’s contract.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) led the fight against the school, bringing the........

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