COLORADO CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY MOUNTS LEGAL CHALLENGE TO RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN COLORADO STUDENT AID PROGRAMS
Colorado Christian University (CCU) filed a lawsuit in federal court on
December 6 challenging Colorado’s student aid programs that discriminate
against religious colleges and universities. On behalf of CCU, CLS’s Center
for Law & Religious Freedom filed the suit against the Colorado Commission on
Higher Education (CCHE), which administers state student aid programs.
CCU, a four-year, Christ-centered liberal arts university, applied to
participate in Colorado’s state-funded student financial aid programs in
September 2003. CCHE denied the application last month on the sole ground that
the school was “pervasively sectarian.” The lawsuit filed on December 6
alleges that Colorado’s exclusion of CCU and its students from state aid
programs violates the Free Exercise Clause, the Establishment Clause, and the
Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The suit also asks the court
to review CCHE’s decision under the Colorado Administrative Procedure Act.
The Center for Law & Religious Freedom, L. Martin Nussbaum of Rothgerber
Johnson & Lyons, LLP, the Alliance Defense Fund, and Thomas N. Scheffel of
Denver represent CCU in the suit.
DISTRICT COURT hears MOTIONS IN MARYLAND CHILD EVANGELISM FELLOWSHIP CASE
The Center for Law & Religious Freedom on Monday, December 7 presented
arguments before a Maryland federal court judge on behalf of Child Evangelism
Fellowship (CEF), a religious community group.
Center attorneys argued in opposition to defendants’ motion to dismiss and in
support of CEF’s motion for summary judgment. The Center asked the court to
grant a permanent injunction guaranteeing CEF equal treatment by Montgomery
County in gaining access to back to school nights, open houses and bulletin
boards used by other community groups. Center attorneys further asked the
court to grant a permanent injunction, in accordance with a June 2004 decision
by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, ordering the Montgomery
County Public Schools to allow CEF to distribute its informational fliers on
the same terms as they distribute fliers of other community groups. We expect
the judge to issue his ruling in Child Evangelism Fellowship v. Montgomery
County Public Schools within the next few weeks.
Center Chief Litigation Counsel Steven H. Aden argued on behalf of Child
Evangelism Fellowship.
CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY FILES BRIEF SUPPORTING PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BAN
The Center for Law & Religious Freedom filed a friend of the court brief on
December 8 on behalf of several Christian organizations supporting Congress’
ban on “partial-birth abortion.”
These organizations and their members support Congress’ ban of the late-term
abortion procedure, also known as “D&X” abortion. In this procedure, the
abortionist pulls a nearly fully-developed infant through the cervix by his or
her feet so that his or her entire body, except the head, is out of the womb.
The abortionist then punctures the infant’s skull with surgical scissors before
extracting his or her brain, thereby killing the child.
CLS filed the brief in Carhart v. Ashcroft in the Eighth Circuit Court of
Appeals in St. Louis on behalf of the Christian Medical Association, the
Alliance Defense Fund, the National Association of Evangelicals, Focus on the
Family, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the
Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, who together
represent tens of millions of pro-life members who are deeply committed to
preserving the sanctity of human life.
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