Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/09pdf/08-1371.pdf
Page Number: 16.0

10 

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

Litigants,  we  have  long  recognized,  “[a]re  entitled  to
have [their] case tried upon the assumption that . . . facts,
stipulated into the record, were established.”  H. Hackfeld 
&  Co.  v.  United  States,  197  U. S.  442,  447  (1905).7    This  
entitlement is the bookend to a party’s undertaking  to be
bound by the factual stipulations it submits.  See post, at 
10 (ALITO, J., dissenting) (agreeing that “the parties must 
be  held  to  their  Joint  Stipulation”).    As  a  leading  legal 
reference summarizes: 

“[Factual stipulations are] binding and conclusive . . . , 
and  the  facts  stated  are  not  subject  to  subsequent 
variation.  So,  the  parties  will  not  be  permitted  to
deny the truth of the facts stated, . . . or to maintain a 
contention contrary to the agreed statement, . . . or to 
suggest,  on  appeal,  that  the  facts  were  other  than  as 
stipulated or that any material fact was omitted.  The 
burden is on the party seeking to recover to show his 
or  her  right  from  the  facts  actually  stated.”    83 
C. J. S., Stipulations §93 (2000) (footnotes omitted). 

This Court has accordingly refused to consider a party’s
argument  that  contradicted  a  joint  “stipulation  [entered] 
at the outset of th[e] litigation.”  Board of Regents of Univ. 
of  Wis.  System  v.  Southworth,  529  U. S.  217,  226  (2000). 
—————— 

80  (First  Amended  Verified  Complaint  for  Declaratory  and  Injunctive
Relief). 

7 Record  evidence,  moreover,  corroborates  the  joint  stipulation  con­
cerning Hastings’ all-comers policy.  The Law School’s then-Chancellor 
and  Dean  testified,  for  example,  that  “in  order  to  be  a  registered  stu­
dent organization you have to allow all of our students to be members 
and full participants if they want to.”  App. 343.  Hastings’ Director of 
Student Services confirmed that RSOs must “be open to all students”—
“even to students who may disagree with [an RSO’s] purposes.”  Id., at 
320 (internal quotation marks omitted).  See also id., at 349 (“Hastings 
interprets  the  Nondiscrimination  Policy  as  requiring  that  student 
organizations  wishing  to  register  with  Hastings  allow  any  Hastings 
student  to  become  a  member  and/or  seek  a  leadership  position  in  the 
organization.”).