Christian Legal Soc'y v. Walker

The Christian Legal Society (CLS) (plaintiff), a national organization composed of Christian lawyers and law students, had a chapter at the Southern Illinois University School of Law (SIU) (defendant). Other student organizations recognized by the law school included the Black Law Student Association, the Women’s Law Forum, and the Hispanic Law Student Association. SIU had an affirmative-action/equal-employment-opportunity policy requiring, among other things, equal educational opportunities for all qualified persons regardless of sexual orientation. SIU’s board of trustees also had a policy prohibiting student organizations that did not comply with federal or state laws concerning nondiscrimination and equal opportunity. CLS permitted anyone to attend meetings, but voting members were not permitted to engage in sexual activity outside of a heterosexual marriage. Anyone who had previously engaged in homosexual conduct must have repented of that conduct. After SIU was notified of CLS’s provisions regarding homosexuality, SIU revoked CLS’s status as a student organization. As a result, CLS no longer had access to the law school’s database of email addresses, could not reserve law-school rooms for meetings, and could not post on law-school bulletin boards, among other things. SIU had not applied its affirmative-action/equal-employment-opportunity policy to any other student organization. CLS filed suit against SIU and SIU officials (collectively, SIU) (defendants), claiming SIU violated its First Amendment rights to free speech, free exercise of religion, and expressive association, as well as its Fourteenth Amendment rights of equal protection and due process. CLS also moved for a preliminary injunction restoring its recognition as a student organization. The trial court denied CLS’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and CLS appealed.