WASHINGTON >> Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices signaled sympathy Wednesday toward 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.

An appeals court this week decided that the Department of Government Efficiency did not need access to sensitive Social Security data to carry out its functions.

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to clear the way for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans.