SCOTUS Sides with Law School in Major First Amendment Case
We blogged back in April about the Christian Legal Society v. Martinez case (both before and after oral arguments), which centered over whether the University of California, Hastings Law School (as a public entity) had to grant official school recognition and the benefits that entails to the school’s chapter of CLS. CLS requires members to sign a statement of faith and explicitly forbade open GLBT members, in violation of the school’s non-discrimination policy, but the organization argued that by not getting an exemption their First Amendment rights were being unfairly curtailed.
Well the Supreme Court finally weighed in yesterday, and came down 5-4 on the side of the law school and their non-discrimination policy. The San Jose Mercury News has a good recap of the decision and Justice Alito-authored dissent, with thoughts from several experts in the field.