Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/09pdf/08-1371.pdf
Page Number: 8

2 

CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOC. CHAPTER OF UNIV. OF CAL., 

HASTINGS COLLEGE OF LAW v. MARTINEZ 

Opinion of the Court 

do  not  share  the  organization’s  core  beliefs  about  religion
and  sexual  orientation.  From  the  perspective  of  respon­
dent  Hastings  College  of  the  Law  (Hastings  or  the  Law 
School),  CLS  seeks  special  dispensation  from  an  across­
the-board open-access requirement designed to further the
reasonable educational purposes underpinning the school’s 
student-organization program.

In  accord  with  the  District  Court  and  the  Court  of  Ap­
peals, we reject CLS’s First Amendment challenge.  Com­
pliance with Hastings’ all-comers policy, we conclude, is a 
reasonable,  viewpoint-neutral  condition  on  access  to  the
student-organization  forum.    In  requiring  CLS—in  com­
mon  with  all  other  student  organizations—to  choose  be­
tween welcoming all students and forgoing the benefits of
official  recognition,  we  hold,  Hastings  did  not  transgress 
constitutional  limitations.  CLS,  it  bears  emphasis,  seeks
not  parity  with  other  organizations,  but  a  preferential 
exemption  from  Hastings’  policy.    The  First  Amendment 
shields CLS against state prohibition of the organization’s
expressive  activity,  however  exclusionary  that  activity
may  be.    But  CLS  enjoys  no  constitutional  right  to  state 
subvention of its selectivity. 

I 
Founded  in  1878,  Hastings  was  the  first  law  school  in
the  University  of  California  public-school  system.    Like 
many  institutions  of  higher  education,  Hastings  encour­
ages  students  to  form  extracurricular  associations  that 
“contribute  to  the  Hastings  community  and  experience.”
App.  349.  These  groups  offer  students  “opportunities  to
pursue  academic  and  social  interests  outside  of  the  class­
room  [to]  further  their  education”  and  to  help  them  “de­
velo[p] leadership skills.”  Ibid. 

Through  its  “Registered  Student  Organization”  (RSO)
program,  Hastings  extends  official  recognition  to  student 
groups.  Several  benefits  attend  this  school-approved