A closely watched lawsuit pitting Christian high-school students against the University of California took baby steps on Tuesday toward a trial as a federal judge heard arguments on the university’s motion to dismiss some parts of the suit.

The hearing concerned details of a case, filed last year, in which six students at Calvary Chapel Christian School and the Association of Christian Schools International sued the university, asserting that it had violated their rights to free speech and religion by refusing to recognize certain Christian-based courses on their applications for admission (The Chronicle, August 29, 2005, and February 3, 2006).

At the end of the 90-minute hearing, Judge S. James Otero, of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, indicated that he was inclined to dismiss some portions of the lawsuit, but he did not issue an official ruling. Given that the university did not seek to dismiss the entire lawsuit, the case will go ahead regardless of how Judge Otero eventually rules.

According to Christopher M. Patti, the university’s lawyer, the judge’s ruling “won’t make a huge difference in how the case will proceed.”