ADF attorneys appeal ASU pro-life speech case to 9th Circuit
Arizona State University officials demand that pro-life club members purchase insurance before exercising free speech rights on campusWednesday, April 09, 2008
PHOENIX — Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed an appeal Tuesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on behalf of an Arizona State University pro-life club in a lawsuit challenging unlawful restrictions on their speech.
“Pro-life student groups shouldn’t have a price tag placed upon expression of their beliefs,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Heather Gebelin Hacker. “Forcing any student group to pay for insurance in order to exercise their right to free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment is unconstitutional.”
In December 2005, members of ASU Students for Life submitted a request to display an exhibit on campus. The exhibit, designed by the non-profit organization Justice for All, displayed different aspects of the pro-life viewpoint. After ASU Students for Life attempted to reserve several speech zones in which to display the exhibit, ASU administration officials told the group that it would be restricted to just one zone, relenting only after receiving correspondence from ADF attorneys.
University officials insisted that the club obtain insurance in order to display the exhibit despite the lack of a written policy. For a subsequent event in April 2006, ASU Students for Life was again required to obtain insurance even though this event only involved sitting at a table on campus and passing out literature. ADF attorneys filed suit on behalf of the club three months later.
A copy of the notice of appeal to the 9th Circuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in ASU Students for Life v. Crow is available here.
The ADF Center for Academic Freedom defends religious freedom at America’s public universities. ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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ABOUT Heather Hacker
Heather Gebelin Hacker serves as legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund at its Sacramento Regional Service Center in California, where she litigates cases to protect the rights of Christian students, faculty, and staff at public colleges and universities across the nation. Hacker is admitted to the state bar in California and Arizona. She has practiced law since 2005 and earned her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Hacker served as an ADF Blackstone intern and became an ADF Blackstone Fellow in 2003. She also completed a legal internship at the Rutherford Institute. Hacker joined ADF in 2005.