Conservatives have had an aggressive and largely successful campaign in recent years taking education issues to the court system, a combination of decades of ground work, a better political climate and a friendlier Supreme Court.
In the past few years, Republicans have snatched high-profile wins at the high court, including blocking student debt relief and getting rid of affirmative action in college applications, as well as making significant strides in school choice policies.
Those on the right are trying to capitalize on that momentum, but experts emphasize that the issues haven’t changed just because former President Trump was able to appoint three Supreme Court justices.
“I can’t conceive of anybody who would launch an effort saying, ‘Let’s try to get this school approved now because there’s a 6-3 conservative majority.’ I don’t think it works that way,” said Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
“I mean, clearly it seems like the legal environment is obviously more congenial to things that conservatives have always wanted, but it’s not like they want those things because there’s a conservative majority,” Pondiscio added. “You might be more likely to pursue legal remedies, you know, to get things done, but it’s a question of carts and horses, you know, like the education cart is not pulling the legal horse, so to speak — it’s the other way around.”