Firearms Lawyer
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Christian Americans Fight for the Land of the Free
July 11th, 2010 at Sun, 11th, 2010 at 7:10 pm by markknappChristian Legal Society loses case
On the same day the Supreme Court handed down the McDonald decision, the Court issued the Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez (UC Hastings) decision that removed an important cultural and legal landmark. The Christian Legal Society encourages Christian law students to remain faithful to Christ. The pressure to conform to certain standards of “professionalism” can be intense in law school.
Clubs have always been defined by the ability to determine their own membership but the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law has policies that force the organization to accept officers and voting members who hold beliefs and engage in conduct that opposes CLS’s purpose of developing Christian character in law students and providing Christian outreach and witness on campus. Therefore, the law school, located in San Francisco, takes a position that is very unusual for most universities and thereby inhibits the group’s ability to define and express its message.
Justice Kennedy voted with the majority in eroding a strong legal principle. The Court struck a blow to the principle in favor of putting all campus groups on an equal playing field (with each group deciding the criteria for determining membership qualifications) within state administered higher education. CLS sought special treatment, according to the majority. Does this mean that all clubs on state campuses must now allow members that are opposed to the fundamental principles for which the group stands?
The Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution requires that similarly situated groups and individuals be treated equally. Do Jewish campus groups have to let Hamas sympathizers join? Must socialist clubs allow members from Young Americans for Freedom? It seems to depend on a state university’s perceptions of which values shall be preeminent.
While some ask why some Americans use the harsh language of “partesian” warfare, citizens in nations that have lost their freedom are looking at what Americans will do next.
markknapp I was on law review at Gonzaga University School of Law and love to write. Having held the position of Associate Editor on Gonzaga Law Review is good training for writing appellate briefs (I have written a few) and is a good qualification. When I am not writing about military history, my favorite activity is educating folks as to why personal self-defense may be just as critical to our safety as national security at the federal level. Like most political and philosophical issues, security starts at home. There is something about stripping issues down to the bare essentials that makes for clear thinking on almost any subject. Studying history, religion and law will convince any fair-minded observer of the human predicament that how we regulate the use of force is nearly the most basic and indispensable element that underlies legal systems and government. Every time an errant driver is stopped by a law enforcement officer there is a potential for presentation and/or abuse of deadly force. Many defendants would not appear in court but for the fact that failure to appear may result in being forcefully detained behind bars. The manner in which we constrain our government officials, protect ourselves from reckless drivers, discourage dishonest business dealings and stop predatory criminals- all involve force that is brought to bear by government and sometimes other parties. The most indispensable element, however, is reason- often harder to define but we know it when we see it. The ability to reason clearly is the indispensable quality for a lawyer, judge or any human being. Reasoning ability underlies the manners, courtroom procedures, writing style and even the flow of paperwork with which a lawyer must deal.
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