Justice O’Connor Back On The Bench To Hear Discrimination Case
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will be sitting in for two days on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. One of the cases she will be hearing involves an Arizona State University right-to-life group.
O’Connor will be part of a that will the case, ASU Students for Life v. Crow, which will be held at ASU’s law school, which is named after the Justice. The other two members of the panel will be 9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski and Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta, both from Pasadena, California, says the Arizona Capitol Times.
In Dec. 2005, members of the ASU Students for Life, attempted to reserve several speech zones on campus that would allow them to share their pro-life message to their peers. ASU officials responded by granting only one zone and additionally mandated that the group also show insurance, an order that is not found in written policy says the Scottsdale based Alliance Defense Fund which is representing the student group.
“Pro-life student groups shouldn’t have a price tag placed upon expression of their beliefs,” said the ADF staff attorney, Heather Gebelin Hacker, who will present oral arguments in the case. “Forcing any student group to pay for insurance in order to exercise their right to free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment is unconstitutional.”
The case finds itself at the appeals court after an Arizona district court in March 2008 cited for the University. The court said it found no evidence of discrimination and the school was within its means to require the group to have insurance.
Judge O’Connor along with the two judges will also travel to other areas, including the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona in Tucson to hear, Gonzales v. Arizona, a voting-rights case that required people to show identification in order to vote.
Typically the appeals court hears cases in four cities on the coastal western states, but it occasionally travels across its territories to hold court. The 9th Circuit territory includes Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Oregon, California, Idaho, Alaska, and Hawaii, along with two Pacific islands, Guam and the northern Mariana Islands.
Related posts:
- High Court Agrees To Hear Rights Case Of Christian Student Group
- Ninth Circuit rules against Christian Legal Society
- Liberty Counsel Petitions U.S. Supreme Court to Hear School Graduation Free Speech Case
- Appellate Court Sets Filing Deadline For Student Christian Group
- NH Supreme Court Will Hear Case of Home-Schooled Girl Ordered Into Government-Run School
