CLS & ADF: Calif. Christian school has the right to make decisions according to its own religious beliefs
WHO: Christian Legal Society Litigation Counsel Timothy J. Tracey
WHAT: Answering questions from the media following hearing in Doe v. California Lutheran High School
WHEN: Friday, October 5, following hearing, which begins at 8:30 a.m. PST
WHERE: County Courthouse, 4075 Main Street, Riverside
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Christian Legal Society Litigation Counsel Timothy J. Tracey will be available to answer questions from the media Friday following a hearing in a lawsuit concerning the constitutional rights of religious schools. Attorneys with the Christian Legal Society and Alliance Defense Fund filed a motion at the California Superior Court in Riverside Friday, asking the court to allow the Association of Faith-Based Organizations to intervene in support of California Lutheran High School. The parents of two students attending the school filed a lawsuit after school officials suspended the two girls for violating the school’s code of conduct by allegedly engaging in homosexual behavior.
“Christian organizations have the right to make admissions and disciplinary decisions according to their own religious beliefs without government interference,” said CLS Litigation Counsel Timothy J. Tracey.
The suspended students’ parents claim the school is engaging in “sexual orientation” discrimination in violation of state anti-discrimination laws. AFBO is seeking to intervene in the case on behalf of a coalition of Christian schools and other organizations to argue that the Constitution protects the schools’ freedom to establish religious admissions criteria and rules of conduct for their students.
“The misapplication of state anti-discrimination laws against officials at California Lutheran High School would violate the school’s constitutional rights,” said Tracey.
A copy of the brief in support of the motion to intervene filed by CLS and ADF attorneys in Doe v. California Lutheran High School in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Riverside, is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/CLHSAintervention.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth. The CLS Center for Law & Religious Freedom is a team of Christian attorneys allied with ADF to defend religious liberty and human life.
