The Supreme Court on Thursday, in a 4-4 ruling, said Oklahoma cannot create the nation's first religious charter school funded directly with taxpayer dollars.

The Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4, blocking the attempt to establish the nation's first religious charter school.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided Thursday that the state of Oklahoma will not be permitted to create the first-ever religious public charter school with a deadlocked decision only a sentence in length.

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.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett is facing backlash from the right for fiercely grilling a Trump administration lawyer over birthright citizenship.

The justices announced they were split 4-4 in a test case heard last month from Oklahoma, which blocks the new Catholic charter school in the state.

The case, a major test of the separation of church and state, was an unexpected loss for those advocating a greater role for religion in public life.

The Supreme Court split evenly Thursday in a high-profile challenge over the nation’s first religious charter school, leaving in place a ruling from Oklahoma’s top court that found the proposed Catholic school unconstitutional.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett's exchange with Trump Solicitor General John Sauer on court precedents in a birthright citizenship case draws attention and raises concerns among Trump allies.