March 28, 2010

Constitutional Rights Clash in Battle of Law School and Christian Group

Constitutional Rights Clash in Battle of Law School and Christian Group 1

Photograph by Noah Berger for The Chronicle

The case, a challenge filed by a student group at the U. of California's Hastings College of the Law, pitted colleges' non­discrimination policies against student organizations with belief-based membership criteria.

By Peter Schmidt

Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court has been barraged with more than three dozen legal briefs, including several from higher-education associations, in a case that could have a far-reaching impact on colleges that have struggled to reconcile their nondiscrimination policies with religious student groups' refusals to admit gay and lesbian students.

The case centers on the question of whether the University of California's Hastings College of the Law acted legally in denying official recognition to