Government · Denver, CO Metro · September 3, 2026
Supreme Court to Hear Case on Colorado's Religious Preschool Exclusion
What Alinsky tactic is being used
3 of the thirteen rules are in play here — campaigns rarely run just one.
Rule 4
“Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
Both sides in this fight are working the other's rulebook. Becket's whole case rests on the state's own word — a program Colorado named "Universal" that, per the Tenth Circuit, "welcomed and actively solicited" faith-based providers, yet conditions their participation on terms the Archdiocese says it cannot meet. Colorado, in turn, holds the preschools to the nondiscrimination provision written into HB22-1295's own provider terms, which is exactly why the Archdiocese sought an exemption in February 2023 rather than simply signing.
Counter-Rule 4 · Radical Integrity
Close the gap between stated values and actual practice before anyone else finds it. This tactic only works where the gap is real.
Radical integrity means closing the gap before opposing counsel finds it. This month, a Christian school or church preschool board should pull its own admissions policy, parent handbook and enrollment forms and read them side by side with what it actually does at the front desk — the Denver case went to a bench trial in January 2024 in which the schools' own documents and practices were exhibits. Where the written policy and the practice differ, fix the practice or fix the policy, and record the decision in the minutes.
Rule 3
“Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.”
The exclusion here does not read like an exclusion. No Colorado statute says "no religious preschools"; ~47 faith-based providers are in the program. The dispute lives in a provider agreement clause and in the legal test of whether a rule is "neutral and generally applicable" — administrative and doctrinal ground where churches have little practice, and where a three-judge panel ruled 3-0 against the preschools on September 30, 2025.
Counter-Rule 3 · Preparation and Width
Prepare the unfamiliar ground before you are dragged onto it. "I don't know, I'll find out and come back" beats an improvised answer.
Prepare that ground before you are standing on it. Before signing or renewing any state provider agreement, get the actual document — not the program brochure — and have someone read the eligibility, nondiscrimination and audit sections and note the rule numbers. If asked at a meeting whether your program "discriminates," the right answer is "I'll get you the exact clause and our policy number," not an improvised one.
Rule 8
“Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions.”
The pressure in this story is not a single ban but a standing condition on money, renewed every enrollment cycle since fall 2023, backed by a district court loss in January 2024 and an appellate loss in September 2025. Litigation has now run nearly three years, with argument not expected until fall 2026 — attrition, not a single blow.
Counter-Rule 8 · Institutional Resilience
Decide in advance, in writing, what the institution will and will not concede — so exhaustion cannot make the decision for it.
Institutional resilience means the concession list is written down before the money is on the table. Ask your school board or parish council to adopt, in a numbered minuted resolution, which admissions, hiring and curriculum standards will not be traded for any public funding stream, and which are negotiable. Then, if a renewal deadline arrives in a hurry, the deadline is not making the decision.
Chapter 3 sets out the rules; Chapter 15 answers each of them in turn. This is that pairing applied to this story.
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