Apr 19, 2010
www.LC.org
Mathew Staver is available for interview on the courthouse steps immediately following recess.
Washington, DC – Liberty Counsel's President and Founder will both be present as the Christian Legal Society v. Martinez ("CLS") case is argued before the U.S. Supreme Court today. Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief on behalf of Child Evangelism Fellowship and Lamb's Chapel, both of which won groundbreaking equal access cases before the United States Supreme Court. CLS, a law school student group, was denied the same equal access afforded to all other student groups at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, a public law school in San Francisco. The law school required CLS to abandon its Christian beliefs and wanted to force the club to allow practicing homosexuals and others who openly engage in sex outside of marriage to become members and officers of the club. CLS refused.
In 2004 the Christian Legal Society required voting members to sign a statement committing to orthodox Christian beliefs, thus disallowing a student to vote if he or she "advocates or unrepentantly engages in sexual conduct outside of marriage between a man and a woman." The school refused to even recognize the group, claiming that its membership requirements violated the school’s policy against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. CLS then filed suit. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the law school.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2001 in Good News Club v. Milford Central School District that whenever the government establishes a "limited public forum," it may not discriminate against speech because of its Christian viewpoint. In 1993, in Lamb’s Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School District, the Supreme Court sided with a church that wanted to show a film by Dr. James Dobson on a public school campus in New York. Liberty Counsel's brief focuses on the Good News Club and Lamb's Chapel cases to show how the Ninth Circuit’s ruling will adversely affect the First Amendment and equal access rights granted to religious viewpoints.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "Of all places, one would think a public law school would respect the First Amendment. The First Amendment is strong medicine to political correctness. If the government can drive out Christian viewpoints today, it can drive out any viewpoint tomorrow. The First Amendment protects a variety of viewpoints or it protects nothing. The government cannot censor speech simply because it disagrees with the message."