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WASHINGTON, March 7, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear an appeal filed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison against an earlier ruling that favored the university’s Badger Catholic student group

U of Wis.-Madison had previously defunded the Christian group simply for expressing its religious viewpoint.  The Alliance Defense Fund has been advocating for Badger Catholic, previously known as the Roman Catholic Foundation, since 2006 when the group was first defunded.

In September 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled that U of Wis.-Madison had violated the First Amendment in withholding funding from the Catholic student group, while supporting other student organizations.  The university appealed the ruling, but that appeal was rejected today.

“The constitutional rights of Christian student organizations should be recognized by university officials just as they recognize those rights for other student groups,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence. 

“The university funded the advocacy and expression of other student organizations but singled out a Catholic student organization to exclude funding some of its expression based purely upon its religious content, and that’s simply not constitutional,” he concluded.

Badger Catholic has had an ongoing battle with U of Wis.-Madison since 2006.  U of Wis.-Madison contended the group, then-Roman Catholic Foundation, was in violation of “non-discrimination” policies, which mandated open leadership in the group even to students who disagreed with the Catholic group’s mission.  The group was defunded and lost equal access to school facilities.

After a federal lawsuit filed by ADF, school officials reached a settlement agreement with ADF and Badger Catholic in 2007, consenting to give recognition and funding to the Roman Catholic Foundation.  Later that year, however, ADF filed a second lawsuit, stating the school had violated the terms of agreement and were still discriminating against the Catholic student group.