South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster

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McMaster Joins Effort to Protect Religious Groups’ Legal Rights

Amicus Brief Filed by 14 State Attorneys General

Columbia, SC – South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has joined a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that defends the right of the Christian Legal Society (“CLS”) at the University of California Hastings to determine the group’s membership based on adherence to its basic viewpoints. The university has denied recognition of the religious student organization because the group requires its officers and voting members to agree with its core religious values.

The amicus brief, which was filed on behalf of fourteen (14) state attorneys general, supports a legal challenge from CLS of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the U.S. Constitution allows a state law school to deny recognition of a religious student organization because the requirements the group has placed upon its officers and voting members.

“South Carolina has eighty-three colleges , all with student groups that should enjoy the freedom to express various and specific points of view, regardless of their religious beliefs” McMaster said. “South Carolina urges the nation’s highest court to hear the Christian Legal Society’s challenge to a ruling that allows limits on free expression to be placed on groups trying to communicate their opinions and beliefs with a single, unified voice.”

Read the brief: http://www.scag.gov/newsroom/pdf/2010/clsbrief.pdf

The states that joined the amicus brief are: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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