Sotomayor stays order requiring Yeshiva University to allow LGBTQ student club
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Friday stayed an order that required Yeshiva University to recognize an LGBTQ student club at its undergraduate campus.
Sotomayor’s stay continues until further order of the Supreme Court. She acted in response to an emergency application filed by the university.
Law.com, Law360, the Associated Press, Reuters and SCOTUSblog are among the publications with coverage.
A trial judge had ordered Yeshiva University to recognize the YU Pride Alliance under the New York City Human Rights Law, which bars discrimination in public accommodations.
Yeshiva University argues that it is exempt from the law because it is a religious corporation, and it has a free exercise right to reject recognition of the club, consistent with its Jewish Orthodox values.
The YU Pride Alliance argues that there was no irreparable harm justifying emergency relief from the Supreme Court, particularly because the university’s Cardozo School of Law already has an official LGBTQ student group called OutLaw.
More than 50 Cardozo law professors have written to Yeshiva University’s president, Rabbi Ari Berman, to express disappointment in the school’s decision to continue to enforce the “discriminatory policy,” according to Law.com. The professors say they think that the policy is “both improper and illegal.”
Yeshiva University is represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
The case is Yeshiva University v. YU Pride Alliance.
