Rosenberger v. University of Virginia

Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819, the University of Virginia is one of the oldest and most highly respected institutions of higher education in the nation. Over 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students annually enroll at the school. As part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the university is subject to the First and Fourteenth amendments.

The University routinely provided monetary support from its Student Activities Fund to commercial costs for printing a variety of publications produced by student organizations. The Student Activities Fund, itself funded from mandatory student fees, was designed to support a broad range of extracurricular student activities related to the university's educational purpose. The student organizations had to include in their contracts and in all written materials a disclaimer stating that they were independent of the university and that the university was not responsible for the content.

A University of Virginia student, Ronald W. Rosenberger, applied for $5,800 from the Student Activities Fund to help subsidize the publishing expenses of a Christian magazine, Wide Awake, initiated in 1990. Based on the religious nature of the publication, the university refused Rosenberger's request. Because of Establishment Clause concerns, the university had adopted funding guidelines prohibiting financial support for publications promoting a particular belief about a supreme being or "ultimate reality."

The existing university structure provided no recourse to the denied students for contesting the University policy. With few other options available, Wide Awake Productions and three of its editors and members including Rosenberger filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Rosenberger claimed the Student Activities Fund's policy to selectively refuse payments for printing costs solely on the basis of religious viewpoints violated constitutional rights to freedom of speech and press. Rosenberger also alleged his rights to the free exercise of religion and to equal protection under the law were violated as well.

The suit sought monies for the magazine's printing costs, an injunction against further enforcement of the school policy, and reimbursement of attorney's fees. Upon request for a summary judgment, the district court ruled in favor of the university. The district court ruled that the university's Establishment Clause concern over supporting "religious activities" was sufficient justification for denying payment and that Wide Awake Production's speech rights were not violated.

Rosenberger appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The appeals court disagreed with the district court opinion concerning Speech Clause violations. The court held that the fund guidelines did discriminate on the basis of speech content. The appeals court ruled that, while the state need not support the speech, a violation of the Speech Clause resulted when the university selectively denied payments, normally available to student organizations. Nevertheless, the appeals court affirmed the district court judgment when considering the religion issues. The court concluded such discrimination by the university was justified by the "compelling interest in maintaining strict separation of church and state." Rosenberger next appealed to the Supreme Court. The Court issued a writ of certiorari, a written order commanding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to forward the proceedings of a case for review.