Colorado Pre-K Pledge Goes Before Justices

Colorado pays for 15 hours a week of tuition-free preschool, but only if schools sign a promise that a family's sexual orientation or gender identity won't matter for admission. The Archdiocese of Denver's 34 preschools want admissions limited to families who side with Catholic doctrine, so the parishes refused, sued, and lost below. Colorado's answer so far: sign the pledge or go without. At oral argument the conservative justices leaned toward the parishes, and the liberals warned the church wants an exemption no secular school gets. Fairness is a great principle until a church asks for it. Strip the spin: why must a church sign the state's rulebook to teach four-year-olds their colors? Chief Justice Roberts, the possible deciding vote, pressed both sides on Sherbert and Smith.