In a 4-to-4 decision, the court upheld a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court that blocked the school. An evenly divided Supreme Court rejected a plan on Thursday to allow Oklahoma to use government money to run the nation’s first religious charter school, which would teach a curriculum infused by Catholic doctrine.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond, also a Republican, sued to stop the school. He called the 4-4 vote “a resounding victory for religious liberty” that also will ensure that “Oklahoma taxpayers will not be forced to fund radical Islamic schools, while protecting the religious rights of families to choose any school they wish for their children.”

The creation of the nation's first religious charter school was blocked by a tie vote from the U.S. Supreme Court.