The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Wednesday seemed open to backing the creation of a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma, a decision that would expand the availability of taxpayer money for religious education in school systems across the nation.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a bid led by two Catholic dioceses to establish in Oklahoma the nation's first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in a major test of religious rights and the separation of church and state in American education.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that publicly funding the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would entangle church and state in violation of the First Amendment.