Court to hear case of Christian student group that refused to admit gays

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The Supreme Court agreed today to hear an appeal from a Christian student group in San Francisco that refused to admit gays and lesbians and to decide whether the group’s right to religious liberty and freedom of association can trump a university’s ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The case, to be heard next year, could set new rules for campus groups across the nation.

The UC Hastings College of Law says its officially recognized student groups must be open to all of its students. The law school also has a general non-discrimination policy that applies to student groups and programs. It forbids discrimination based on “race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, age, sex or sexual orientation.”

Five years ago, the Hastings chapter of the Christian Legal Society was told it could not continue as a recognized student group at the law school if its officers refused to pledge to abide by the non-discrimination rule.

For its part, the leaders of the Christian students group cited its national policy, which said, “In view of the clear dictates of Scripture, unrepentant participation in and advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle is inconsistent with an affirmation of the Statement of Faith” demanded by the Christian Legal Society.

Because the Hastings chapter would not abide by the university’s policy, it lost its recognition as an official student group. This is turn meant the campus would not pay travel costs for the group’s leaders to attend national meetings. The group also lost its right to use reserved rooms for meetings, and it was excluded from some newsletters or mailings that were sent to students at the law school.

Lawyers for the group filed suit, contending that it was unconstitutional for a state-funded law school to deny official recognition to a religious group because of its “core religious viewpoints.” Its suit said the law school had violated its freedom of “expressive association” as well as its rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion, all protected by the 1st Amendment.

A federal judge and the U.S. 9th Circuit of Appeals rejected the claim, saying a university can enforce “an open membership rule” for student organizations without violating the Constitution.

But the Christian Legal Society appealed to the Supreme Court and argued that students with deeply held religious views should not be denied their right to “expressive association.” As a legal precedent, they cited the high court’s decision in 2000 that said the Boy Scouts of America may exclude openly gay men from becoming scout masters. A New Jersey court had prohibited such discrimination, but in a 5-4 ruling in Boy Scouts vs. Dale, the high court ruled the Boy Scouts had a right to “expressive association,” which permitted them to exclude those whose lifestyle contradicted its mission statement.

The appeal also noted that a U.S. appeals court in Chicago had sided with a Christian Legal Society chapter that challenged a similar non-discrimination policy at the Southern Illinois University School of Law.

After considering the appeal for weeks in their weekly closed-door conference, the justices said today they had voted to hear the appeal and to rule on whether the Constitution protected the right of the Christian students group to exclude some students.

-- David G. Savage in Washington