Federal Court Strikes Down Minnesota Law that Targeted Faith-Based Education

We reported in 2023 on Minnesota’s exclusion of Christian colleges and universities from participating in a publicly funded program that allows high school students to earn college credit at the postsecondary institution of their choice.
 
The law explicitly excluded students from post-secondary programs in which the admission process considered “religious beliefs or affiliations.”
 
This law would have barred from the program the University of Northwestern-St. Paul and Crown College, the latter the largest provider in this 40-year-program. Both schools asked students to sign a statement of faith to ensure that they are a good fit for their institutions that – while they teach secular subjects at a high level – have a religious orientation.
 
At the time, Minnesota legislator Harry Niska said this amounted to the “targeting of people of faith.”
 
Now, thanks to a federal court in Minnesota, that targeting is over. The court scrapped the law as unconstitutional, finding that the outlawing of faith statements as admissions requirements was unconstitutional. The court held that under the law, the “free exercise in maintaining a campus-community of like-minded believers is burdened.”
 
Credit for this victory goes to the Becket law firm that backed parent-plaintiffs who brought suit.
 
“Minnesota tried to cut off educational opportunities to thousands of high schoolers simply for their faith,” said Diana Thomson, senior counsel at Becket. “That’s not just unlawful – that’s shameful. This ruling is a win for families who won’t be strong-armed into abandoning their beliefs, and a sharp warning to politicians who target them.”

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