CENTER FILED MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION TO PROTECT STUDENTS’ CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
On March 4, Center attorneys filed a motion for preliminary injunction, asking a federal district court judge to order Arizona State University officials to immediately grant the Christian Legal Society (CLS) chapter at Arizona State University College of Law status as an ASU registered student group and to allow the chapter to select members and officers who agree with the CLS “Statement of Faith.” The CLS chapter asked the court to grant this injunction to preserve its rights while the case it filed against the university in November 2004 is pending.
In the federal civil rights lawsuit, the CLS chapter alleged that ASU is violating the First Amendment rights of expressive association, free speech and free exercise of religion of the CLS chapter and other campus religious groups by failing to exempt them from the “nondiscrimination” provision in the Student Code of Conduct.
The CLS Center and the Alliance Defense Fund represent the CLS chapter, and the Alliance Defense Fund is generously funding the Center’s work on this case.
PRODUCTIVE MEDIATION IN UNIVERSITY CASE
This week Center attorneys and counsel for Penn State met in Pennsylvania for a mediation in DiscipleMakers Christian Fellowship v. Penn State. The mediation was productive, and Center attorneys are hopeful this case will be resolved out of court.
This case arose in September 2004 when DiscipleMakers asked the university to exempt it and other religious student groups from objectionable portions of the nondiscrimination policy. Penn State officials declined the request, and DiscipleMakers responded by filing a lawsuit against the university on October 8, 2004 to secure its constitutional right to select leaders based on its sincerely held religious beliefs.
The CLS Center, the Alliance Defense Fund, and local counsel Leonard G. Brown, III represent DiscipleMakers, and the Alliance Defense Fund is financially supporting the Center’s work on this case.
PHARMACIST DISCIPLINED FOR FOLLOWING RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
An administrative law judge issued a proposed decision last week stating that pharmacist Neil T. Noesen violated the standard of practice for pharmacists by failing to provide written notice to his manager at a K-Mart Pharmacy of his objection to transferring a birth control prescription and by failing to advise a patient of her options for obtaining her birth control medication after he refused to fill or transfer her prescription.
This case arose when the Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing filed a complaint against Noesen after he refused to dispense a contraceptive to a patient because of his religious convictions. The Wisconsin agency charged Noesen with unprofessional conduct and practicing in a manner which departed from the relevant standard of care by endangering the health, welfare, or safety of a patient.
Center attorneys plan to file formal objections to the administrative law judge’s proposed decision within the next two weeks, asking the judge to reconsider her decision. The Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board will then review the judge’s proposal and issue a final decision.
The CLS Center and Krystal Williams-Oby of Madison, Wisconsin represent Noesen, and the Alliance Defense Fund is kindly funding the Center’s work on this case.
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