WASHINGTON (ABP) — The Supreme Court agreed Dec. 7 to hear a case dealing with sticky questions about whether religious groups at state schools can be forced to either comply with non-discrimination policies or forego the access to funding and other benefits that go along with official school recognition.
The justices agreed to hear the Christian Legal Society’s appeal of a lower court’s decision saying the group’s student chapter at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law had to, like other school-recognized student groups, follow the university’s non-discrimination policy. The policy includes provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or religion.
In 2004, the chapter asked for exemptions from those two aspects of the non-discrimination rules, saying the national Christian Legal Society’s policies prohibit non-Christians and people who engage in non-marital sex from being voting members or officers of the organization.
But the school denied the exemption, saying the non-discrimination requirement is a neutral rule that applies to all student groups and it would be unfair to treat the society differently. The society — a national networking organization for Christian judges, attorneys and law students — sued, saying the denial was a violation of its rights of association and comprised viewpoint discrimination against its religious views.
“Public universities shouldn’t single out Christian student groups for discrimination. All student groups have the right to associate with people of like mind and interest,” said Kim Colby, senior counsel for the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom, in a press release on the high court agreeing to hear the case. “We trust the Supreme Court will not allow Hastings to continue to deprive CLS of this right by forcing the group to abandon its identity as a Christian student organization.”
Two lower federal courts sided with the school, saying the non-discrimination policy was viewpoint-neutral and that the legal society had not proven that its ability to carry out its mission would be harmed if it either allowed gays or non-Christians to become members or chose to forego the benefits of official registration. As attorneys for the school have noted in legal filings, the predecessor to the Christian Legal Society chapter comported with the school’s non-discrimination provisions prior to 2004, when it adopted the national organization’s policies on membership. The school’s lawyers have also noted that other religious student organizations on campus — including another Christian group and Muslim and Jewish organizations — comply with the non-discrimination policy.
In hearing the case, the Supreme Court could clarify the rules for what sorts of stipulations, if any, state schools may place on religious student organizations wanting to enjoy the benefits of official registration or recognition.
It also provides the court one of its first chances under Chief Justice John Roberts to deal with the difficult constitutional questions at the intersection of religion, public policy and sexuality.
The case is Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (No. 08-1371).
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Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.