On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in
Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, a case in which the Alliance Defense Fund holds particular interest, since we represent CLS. The decision did not go the way we would have wished.
The case centered on a policy at the University of California Hastings College of the Law that requires every club and organization on campus to accept “all comers,” i.e., to let any student become a voting member and potentially, an elected officer in the organization …
even if that student does not agree or comply with the ideals and standards of the club.
So, for instance, non-Christians could potentially be elected to head the Christian Legal Society student chapter. So could Christians who misguidedly practice homosexual behavior or other forms of cohabitation. A group of student Republicans could use the policy to pack the Young Democrats club and elect one of their own to chair that group. It’s clearly a “weird” and “crazy” policy (in the words of Justice Anton Scalia), but Hastings maintains that it’s the only way the college can ensure that no student is ostracized or excluded for their beliefs.
In its 5-4 ruling (written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), the majority expressed the curious conviction that a university rule that left groups vulnerable to takeover by hostile students – and that required Christian student groups to accept even leaders who disagreed with the group’s statement of faith – was “reasonable.” Under the university’s policy, an African-American student group has to be open to white supremacists. A Jewish student group has to be open to radical Muslims. This makes no sense. Further, the Court skimmed past evidence that the university allowed more politically correct groups to discriminate. For example, the Christian Legal Society demonstrated that a group called “La Raza” (Spanish for “the race”) even engaged in racial discrimination. Fortunately, the Court did remand the case to the Ninth Circuit to allow CLS to prove that the university engaged in selective enforcement.
So, in the words of ADF Senior Counsel David French, the ruling is more “narrow” than the media recognizes, but still “troubling.” But we take hope, knowing that – though it may be denied for a time – God’s will and God’s justice will
“be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
Remember: we’re in a marathon, not a sprint. This is just one of perhaps hundreds of cases that must be fought to the end, through godly perseverance, to victory, to protect religious liberty in America. ADF and our allies will continue to fight to defend, protect, and affirm religious liberty on public university campuses. While today’s decision is a disappointment, and adds more legal obstacles to overcome, we are not discouraged.
We must run the race until the end.
In the words of the great old hymn, “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” John 15:5 still applies, and it is in His strength that we press on. God bless you and thank you for your prayers and support that have enabled so much, and that will continue to make so much possible in the coming days of this war for the soul of our nation.