Colorado Christian University Case

Facts (from the opinion):

The State of Colorado provides scholarships to eligible students who attend any accredited college in the state-public or private, secular or religious-other than those the state deems “pervasively sectarian.” To determine whether a school is “pervasively sectarian,” state officials are directed, among other things, to examine whether the policies enacted by school trustees adhere too closely to religious doctrine, whether all students and faculty share a single “religious persuasion,” and whether the contents of college theology courses tend to “indoctrinate.” Applying these criteria, state officials have extended scholarships to students attending a Methodist university and a Roman Catholic university run by the Jesuit order. They have refused scholarships to otherwise eligible students attending a non-denominational evangelical Protestant university and a Buddhist university. Colorado Christian University, one of the two schools held pervasively sectarian by the State, contends that excluding its students on the basis of this inquiry violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The district court disagreed, and granted summary judgment in favor of the state defendants. We find the exclusion unconstitutional for two reasons: the program expressly discriminates among religions without constitutional justification, and its criteria for doing so involve unconstitutionally intrusive scrutiny of religious belief and practice. We reverse, and order that summary judgment be granted in favor of the university.

Here are some questions:

1. Does this exclusion violate the Free Exercise Clause? How does Locke v. Davey affect this issue?

2. Would the EC permit CCU to be included in the scholarship program?

3. Does the exclusion of "pervasively sectarian" colleges from an otherwise general program violate the EC? Why or why not?

4. Do you think the 10th Circuit has correctly applied the Supreme Court Free Ex and EC caselaw?