Religion & Law

I follow in the footsteps of others on the Martinez case.

Yesterday, I looked at the student web page at Hastings Law and began to look at many of the student organizations, including the environmental, civil liberties, reproductive rights, Jewish, Muslim, feminist, and GLBTQ groups. Some of these organizations have their bylaws posted on-line. While these organizations offer different formulations about the fact that they welcome all students, I wonder what this really means. Since some of these organizations do stand firmly for positions that would not be attractive to students who do not endorse such views, are they, in fact, truly open to all students?

It seems that the CLS was more open--more honest--about what it stands for, and for this it was disciplined by the law school authorities. I suppose the CLS could have taken the approach that other organizations do and say that they welcome all students. But the CLS did not join them for fellowship in this regard; rather, the CLS chose the path of honestly standing for something, i.e.,Christian principles, and being open about what is constitutive of being a member of the organization. And for their commitment to Christian principles and for their honesty, a majority of the Supreme Court has institutionalized in the law the sanction against them and the discrimination that follows.

RJA sj