Supreme Court to Hear CLS Student Group

Here is the press release from the Christian Legal Society:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to decide whether a public university can refuse to recognize a religious student group because the group requires its leaders to share its religious beliefs. Attorneys with the Christian Legal Society and the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom represent a student chapter of CLS, which Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco refused to recognize because the group requires all of its officers and voting members to subscribe to its basic Christian beliefs.

“Public universities shouldn’t single out Christian student groups for discrimination. All student groups have the right to associate with people of like-mind and interest,” said Senior Counsel Kim Colby with the CLS Center for Law & Religious Freedom. “We trust the Supreme Court will not allow Hastings to continue to deprive CLS of this right by forcing the group to abandon its identity as a Christian student organization.”

“Christian students have the right to gather as Christians for a common purpose and around shared beliefs,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Gregory S. Baylor with the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “It’s completely unreasonable--and unconstitutional--for a public university to disrupt the purposes of private student groups by forcing them to accept as members and officers those who oppose the very ideas they advocate.”

CLS Litigation Counsel Timothy J. Tracey, now with ADF, argued Christian Legal Society v. Martinez before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in March. The appellate court refused to reverse a district judge’s decision against CLS, so the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

* * * * * * *
There's some buzz, too:

Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Volokh Conspiracy, Christian Law Journal, Mirror of Justice, Fox News

Update: Touchstone's Mere Comments points us to Get Religion, and the NYT weighs in as well.

The Twin Cities

I was encouraged this week by some good folks in Minnesota.  

It all started with dinner with a handful of lawyers who desire to mentor law students in a meaningful, faithful way.  The Minnesota CLS attorney chapter does important work with local lawyers and the poor and needy in the Cities, and they are hoping to make this another of their important initiatives.  

I spent Tuesday afternoon with some fantastic law professors and students at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where the Christian Legal Society student chapter is hoping to be a part of the continuing building of spiritual community there.  

I enjoyed the hospitality of some colleagues and friends at St. Thomas.  I am grateful for Professor Rob Vischer's hospitality and wise counsel to students, and I look forward to his new book, due out next month, Conscience and the Common Good: Reclaiming the Space Between Person and State (Cambridge).   It was good to see Professor Susan Stabile, again, if just for a minute or two.  And I enjoyed being encouraged by Professor Teresas Collett and stories of her work in defense of human life and public reason. 

I spent Tuesday evening with a great group of lawyers and law students from the University of Minnesota and Hamiline Law, talking about the Lawyer's Calling and discussing ministry on campus.  I am impressed by their enthusiasm and mission-mindedness.

Finally, yesterday morning, I presented a CLE Seminar on Faith, Ethics, and the Practice of Law to a fun group of local attorneys.  Our discussion ranged from calling to integrity to duties surrounding client confidences.  It was a interesting group, and we had an edifying discussion.  

It's nice to return from a trip like this encouraged by how the Lord is using regular folks in extraordinary ways to do His work.  Great things are happening in the legal community in the Twin Cities! 

Thanks to Tom Pritchard and the Minnesota Family Council for making it possible for me to be there!

(I am however, still rooting for the Tigers in the pennant race.)

Canadian Legal Fellowship Law Student Conference

What a treat it was to be part of the CLF National Student Conference in Windsor, Ontario last weekend. The students heard from lawyers, law profs, doctors, and pastors from the US and Canada, encouraging them to follow Christ as students and lawyers.

I can't say enough about the hospitality of the CLF staff and the students who organized the event. Special thanks to Liz Sinnott, a law student who took time out from her dual-degree studies to help make the conference go.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters practicing law in Canada as they seek to follow Christ in a very important and influential ministry to their nation. Click here for more info on CLF.

(Cross-posted at Justitia Blog).