Virginia College Student Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Restore Equal Treatment of Students

The National Legal Foundation, Claybrook LLC, Troutman Pepper Locke, First Liberty Institute, and Alliance Defending Freedom filed a petition Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Liberty University student Bethany Hall, asking the justices to reverse a 2004 court decision allowing state-funded scholarship programs to exclude students pursuing a degree in religious studies.

“It is odious to our Constitution for a state to fund a degree in music but refuse to fund a degree in music & worship,” said Steven Fitschen of National Legal Foundation. “The Free Exercise clause is meant to encourage and even prefer religion. But Virginia’s decision to deny funding based upon religious use is the type of hostility toward religion rejected by the First Amendment.”