Senator Ted Cruz Launches Investigation after Yale Law School Pulls Funding for Fellowships at Christian Law Firms
After Yale Law school announced that it would stop funding students completing fellowships at companies that hold a Biblical view on marriage, Senator Ted Cruz announced that he would be launching an investigation.
According to the Christian Post, Cruz launched a discrimination investigation into Yale Law School after their recent decision appeared to target conservative and Christian groups.
As Christian Headlines previously reported, last week, a Yale Law School student writing for the Federalist revealed that the school had sent out a notice informing students that “it was extending its nondiscrimination policy to summer public interest fellowships, postgraduate public interest fellowships, and loan forgiveness for public interest careers.”
The policy change noted that “The school will no longer provide financial support for students and graduates who work at organizations that discriminate on the basis of ‘sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.’”
This meant that if a student wanted to complete their internship with a conservative law group like Alliance Defending Freedom, then they could complete it, but without financial support from the school.
Reportedly, this move came following Yale’s decision – which was prompted by a complaint from LGBT student activist group the “Outlaws” – not to allow the ADF to come and speak to students about the nationally known Masterpiece Cake Shop lawsuit.
According to the Christian Post, Cruz – a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution – found the school’s new policy change to be a violation of student’s first amendment right to freedom of religion.
As such, Senator Cruz sent a letter to Yale Law School’s Dean Heather Gerken, informing her that the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution would be opening up an investigation into the policy.
Cruz wrote, “Public news reports indicate that Yale Law School has recently adopted a transparently discriminatory policy: namely, that Yale will no longer provide any stipends or loan repayments for students serving in organizations professing traditional Christian views or adhering to traditional sexual ethics.”
He continued, “The First Amendment protects both free speech and the Free Exercise of religion. Yale’s new policy does neither. Instead, it appears that the policy arose from unconstitutional animus and a specific discriminatory intent both to blacklist Christian organizations like the Alliance Defending Freedom and to punish Yale students whose values or religious faith lead them to work there.”
“Please be advised that the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution is opening an investigation into Yale Law School’s policy, announced via email on or about March 25, 2019, extending its putative nondiscrimination policy to summer public interest fellowships, postgraduate public interest fellowships, and loan forgiveness for public interest careers,” Cruz asserted.
Yale appears to be standing behind there policy change and according to the Christian Post, a statement from the school asserts that the policy is meant to protect all people including Christians. The statement reads, “We recently decided that the Law School will require that any employment position it financially supports be open to all of our students. If an employer refuses to hire students because they are Christian, black, veterans, or gay, we will not fund that position.”
The Christian Post reports that a spokesperson for Senator Cruz told Yale News that Cruz will “‘possibly” hold a hearing on the issue to determine whether Yale should continue receiving federal funds.”
Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Alex Wong/Staff
Comments are closed.