Kristin Richards Uc Hastings

Supreme Court to Consider Whether Christian Law School Group ...

, Will be argued in the Supreme Court Monday morning. Hastings counters that the CLS, a national organization that seeks to 'proclaim, love and serve Jesus Christ through the study and practice of law,' is demanding special treatment. It wants the college's official stamp of approval and the access to benefits and student activity fees that come with it, but it will not commit to following the nondiscrimination policy that every other student group follows."

Some background in the case : "A Christian group was part of the landscape for years. But when it decided to affiliate with the national CLS, it was told the group's ban of gays and nonbelievers in leadership positions violated the college's policy and its insistence that all Hastings students be allowed to join any club. The CLS sued. A federal judge sided with the school, saying its blanket policy did not single out the religious group because of its views. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed."

(image flickr user frankfarm )

Interesting case. My thought is this is different from the Boy Scouts case where the court ruled they could kick out gay scout leaders. In this instance it appears that the CLS is saying they don't have to abide by the schools anti-discriminatory policy - which is true; however they don't have a constitutional right to be affiliated with the school. If the court ruled in the CLS, that would also mean that a white supremacist group could be afforded the same rights. I don't see the court going down that path. The reason the court is taking the case is because there is an appellate split. The 7th Circuit a few years ago ruled in favor of CLS; now the 9th Circuit is ruling against them. The 7th Circuit is Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Posted by: Mike | Apr 18, 2010 11:28:17 AM

I'm willing to admit I don't know all that much about the finer points of the law, but it seems to me that if the group wants to keep out LGBT students, they simply have to turn down funding from the school (meaning no free rooms for meetings on campus, free advertising, etc.). If they want to receive school funding, they have to follow school rules. To my mind it appears fairly simple. Nobody is preventing them from meeting or spouting their views. But the school is under no obligation to fund their speech.

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