Intolerance in the Name of Tolerance: Will the United States Supreme Court’s Circular Reasoning in its Decision of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez be the Downfall of Student Organizations as We Know Them?

Abstract:     
In recent decades, the United States Supreme Court has worked toward providing a clear standard dictating that a public school may not exclude a student organization from its limited public forum based on a group’s expression of a religious viewpoint. The Supreme Court’s decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, though, may have significantly changed the tides for these organizations. This Comment will initially provide the background of relevant First Amendment freedoms in general, and then attend to those freedoms as applied to the rights of religious student organizations. Turning next to the Supreme Court’s decision in Martinez, this Comment will discuss that opinion as well as its implications. By addressing these points, the Author seeks to bring to light the profound impact Martinez could have on the previously-existing and expanding trend of protecting the rights of religious student organizations.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 46

Keywords: First Amendment, Christian Legal Society, Martinez, Summum, Schenck, Rust v. Sullivan, Rosenberger, public forum and fora, establishment clause, student organizations, religious student organizations, free speech, freedom of association, associational, government speech, viewpoint, discrimination

working papers series