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Page Number: 28

22 

CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOC. CHAPTER OF UNIV. OF CAL., 
HASTINGS COLLEGE OF LAW v. MARTINEZ 
Opinion of the Court 

to  all  students.”  Brief  for  Hastings  32;  see  Brief  for 
American Civil Liberties Union et al. as Amici Curiae 11. 
Just  as  “Hastings  does  not  allow  its  professors  to  host
classes open only to those students with a certain status or
belief,”  so  the  Law  School  may  decide,  reasonably  in  our 
view, “that the . . . educational experience is best promoted 
when  all  participants  in  the  forum  must  provide  equal 
access  to  all  students.”  Brief  for  Hastings  32.    RSOs, 
we  count  it  significant,  are  eligible  for  financial  assist- 
ance  drawn  from  mandatory  student-activity  fees,  see 
supra, at 3; the all-comers policy ensures that no Hastings
student is forced to fund a group that would reject her as a 
member.18 

Second,  the  all-comers  requirement  helps  Hastings
police  the  written  terms  of  its  Nondiscrimination  Policy
without  inquiring  into  an  RSO’s  motivation  for  member­
ship restrictions.  To bring the RSO program within CLS’s 
view of the Constitution’s limits, CLS proposes that Hast­
ings permit exclusion because of belief but forbid discrimi­
nation  due  to  status.  See  Tr.  of  Oral  Arg.  18.    But  that 
proposal  would  impose  on  Hastings  a  daunting  labor.
How should the Law School go about determining whether 
a student organization cloaked prohibited status exclusion 
in  belief-based  garb?    If  a  hypothetical  Male-Superiority 
Club  barred  a  female  student  from  running  for  its  presi­
dency, for example, how could the Law School tell whether
the  group  rejected  her  bid  because  of  her  sex  or  because, 
by seeking to lead the club, she manifested a lack of belief 
in its fundamental philosophy? 

This  case  itself  is  instructive  in  this  regard.    CLS  con­
tends  that  it  does  not  exclude  individuals  because  of  sex­
—————— 

18 CLS notes that its “activities—its Bible studies, speakers, and din­
ners—are  open  to  all  students,”  even  if  attendees  are  barred  from 
membership and leadership.  Reply Brief 20.  Welcoming all comers as 
guests  or  auditors,  however,  is  hardly  equivalent  to  accepting  all 
comers as full-fledged participants.