Christian Legal Society v. Martinez
Cases
University of California, Hastings
Case Overview
FIRE filed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court of the United States to defend the First Amendment right to freedom of association by overturning the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in Christian Legal Society v. Kane, which allowed University of California Hastings College of the Law to forbid its chapter of the Christian Legal Society to organize around shared religious and cultural beliefs. FIRE's brief, which was joined by the national student organization Students For Liberty, also pointed out that the Ninth Circuit's decision let Hastings demand that all groups accept "all comers" as voting members, which leaves groups with minority viewpoints subject to hostile takeovers by students in the majority.