The morning read for Wednesday, September 10

Each weekday, we select a short list of news articles and commentary related to the Supreme Court. Here’s the Wednesday morning read:

• Trump says he’ll direct Education Department to protect praying in public school (Cheyanne M. Daniels, Politico) — During his address at Monday’s Religious Liberty Commission meeting, President Donald Trump warned that the religious liberty rights of public school students are under threat and promised to soon issue “new guidelines on the right to prayer in public schools,” according to Politico. In 1962, the Supreme Court held that “state-sponsored prayer in public schools violates the First Amendment,” but that ruling and others on the establishment clause do not prevent children from praying on their own or leading religious clubs on school grounds. In a statement to Politico, the Education Department’s press secretary, Savannah Newhouse, said the department “looks forward to supporting President Trump’s vision to promote religious liberty in our schools across the country.”
• Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says the power of change lies with the people, not the courts (Analisa Novak, CBS News) — As she promotes her new children’s book on her mother, Celina, Justice Sonia Sotomayor is speaking about what you should do if you’re frustrated with a Supreme Court ruling. First, you should read the opinions in full and try to understand all the perspectives. Then, you should remember that the power to create change rests with you. “I am a Supreme Court justice. I get to decide individual cases. I get to speak my mind about them. In the end, I don’t change what exists. People change what they don’t like or they support what they do like. The power of change is in people,” Sotomayor said during an interview on “CBS Mornings.”
• Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett tells us what keeps her up at night (Susan Page and Maureen Groppe, USA Today) — Justice Amy Coney Barrett is also promoting a new book right now and, in a recent interview with USA Today, she spoke about how her appointment to the Supreme Court changed her loved ones’ lives overnight. “The hardest thing for us to give up was just that freedom, the ease that you feel with friends you’ve had for a long time, and the freedom that you feel about having a life that’s outside of the public eye,” she said. Still, Barrett added, some parts of her daily routine remain surprisingly normal. “I spend my days talking to law clerks about cases and writing and analyzing and reading, and then I leave and I’m on the sidelines of a soccer game or making a grocery run or serving lunch, volunteering at my children’s school,” she said.
• Oklahoma Catholic leaders scrap religious charter school plans, announce private online school (Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice) — After the Supreme Court’s 4-4 ruling in May blocked their effort to create the nation’s first religious charter school, Catholic leaders in Oklahoma refocused on launching a private online academy. The new school, St. Carlo Acutis Classical Academy, which is named for a recently canonized Catholic saint, is set to open ahead of the 2026-27 school year, according to Oklahoma Voice, and will initially serve around 300 students. “Catholic leaders will not seek state dollars for St. Carlo Acutis Classical Academy beyond a tax credit that assists private school students with tuition and fees,” school leaders told Oklahoma Voice.
• New York City Wants $250,000 From SoHo Artists Just To Stay in Their Homes (Anastasia Boden and Christopher Kieser, Reason) — A lawsuit out of New York City is putting Supreme Court precedent on property rights in the spotlight alongside a world-famous arts district, according to Reason contributors Anastasia Boden and Christopher Kieser. The case, which will be argued in front of the New York Court of Appeals in November, centers on a “conversion permit” that city officials have told residents they will need to pay for if they want to remain in lofts set aside for city-certified artists without being a certified artist themselves. The permit costs “$100 per square foot—about $250,000 for the average loft,” Reason reported. Residents contend that the permit plan runs afoul of past Supreme Court rulings “prohibit[ing] local governments from putting onerous conditions on land use permits unless the demand is related and proportional to the harm the person’s land use causes.”