When the initial order came to issue a halt to the lower court ruling by Justice Sotomayor, I thought Yeshiva University (YU) had a chance.
It turns out, she was just hoping to get the case before the court to deal YU a loss.
Conservative Justices Roberts and Kavanaugh sided with the liberal justices to uphold the lower court’s ruling regarding an LGBTQ+ student group being recognized by the university.
The school was fighting to block the recognition of the LGBTQ+ student group on a religious exemption.
Sorry…
The challenge for YU is that the school does not list religion in its charter.
Based on the fact alone, the group challenged the school refusing to recognize the group on campus.
The university lost the first go around on an order that blocked the school administrators from interfering with the group in the future and forced the school to recognize the group.
The majority opinion stated, “Applicants Yeshiva University and its president seek emergency relief from a non-final order of the New York trial court, requiring the University to treat an LGBTQ student group similarly to other student groups in its student club recognition process.
“The application is denied because it appears that applicants have at least two further avenues for expedited or interim state court relief.”
So, this is not a clear defeat, but it is a defeat nonetheless.
The school must now litigate the matter at the circuit level than the State Supreme Court.
The school escalated the matter because it wanted to have the issue settled before students return for the fall semester.
The dissenting opinion, written by Justice Alito, stated, “The First Amendment guarantees the right to the free exercise of religion, and if that provision means anything, it prohibits a State from enforcing its own preferred interpretation of Holy Scripture.
“Yet that is exactly what New York has done in this case.
“The upshot is that Yeshiva is almost certain to be compelled for at least some period of time (and perhaps for a lengthy spell) to instruct its students in accordance with what it regards as an incorrect interpretation of Torah and Jewish law.”
Alito also noted that if and when the case does return to the Supreme Court, Yeshiva is likely to win, so why make them jump through hoops in the process?
Source: New York Post
