The College Fix

‘Students at public institutions of higher education who are members of religious student groups will be free to select their own leaders’

A federal court recently ended a four-year-old court battle waged by an atheist advocacy group seeking to reverse a Trump-era regulation barring universities from restricting students groups’ religious freedoms on college campuses.

The U.S. District Court for the District Court of Columbia on Jan. 15 ruled in favor of Trump’s 2020 “Free Inquiry Rule,” which allows student groups to have leaders who reflect the organization’s beliefs.

The Secular Student Alliance had sued Biden’s Department of Education in 2021 seeking to overturn the rule, arguing it is discriminatory.

“The rule gives religious student clubs the absolute right to use religion to discriminate while still receiving official university recognition and funding,” the alliance previously stated.

“The rule thus undermines the nondiscrimination policies that many colleges and universities have enacted to ensure that clubs don’t reject students from membership or leadership positions on the basis of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or other protected characteristics.”

The lawsuit had been placed on hold in the courts as the U.S. Department of Education considered revoking the Free Inquiry Rule through the proper administrative channels, but still had not concluded that process at the time of Trump’s reelection.

The court tossed the lawsuit after the education department admitted it had no plans for “publication of a final rule prior to the change in presidential administration on January 20, 2025.”

“We have a sense of freedom now, as if the wind is at our back,” said Corey Miller, president of Ratio Christi, a nationwide Christian campus apologetics ministry that had filed a friend-of-the-court brief in defense of the rule with the assistance of Alliance Defending Freedom.

“We can now have confidence that we’ll be treated fairly, inclusively, at the universities, which were largely started by Christians and for Christ,” Miller told The College Fix via email. “All we are asking for is equal freedom under the law. Sometimes we have to give continuing education to university administrators and remind them what the law of the land is.”

Ismail Royer, director of Islam and religious freedom at the Religious Freedom Institute, also praised the development.

“This outcome is a testimony to the efforts of organizations fighting to preserve the religious freedom of students and institutions. It’s also a testimony to the effectiveness of using opportunities the APA affords to the public to promote good and prevent harm by administrative agencies,” he stated in a news release.

“Ultimately, the upshot in this case is that students at public institutions of higher education who are members of religious student groups will be free to select their own leaders. And that’s a good thing.”

Miller told The Fix that if the lawsuit had been successful, “it would have been virtual open hunting season on groups like Ratio Christi.”

While the court made its final ruling days before Trump’s second inauguration, Miller said there is still much to be done and intends to work with the Department of Education to remind “universities of their requirements so that they don’t misbehave and pay the price.”

“We have a president now who will be willing to actually enforce the law,” he said. “Biden would not have done so, and in fact he wanted to dismantle the policy. After four long years, we experienced victory, justice, and freedom for all.”

The Secular Student Alliance did not respond to The College Fix’s requests for comment.

MORE: Christian colleges sue over Minnesota’s dual enrollment statement of faith ban

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