Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office issued a statement Friday saying he filed an amicus brief supporting Julea Ward as she appeals the summary judgment awarded to Eastern Michigan University in a U.S. District Court case from last July.
Ward was expelled from the university’s counseling program on March 12, 2009, after she refused to work with a gay client. Ward claimed the university violated her right to practice her religion. The university claimed it was simply following the American Counseling Association’s guidelines.
“The religious freedoms enshrined in our Constitution do not evaporate when you step on campus,” Schuette said in his statement. “Unless these freedoms are vigorously defended, it sets a dangerous precedent that threatens education for all students of faith. We must strongly defend and protect the rights of any citizen to ensure the rights of all citizens.”
In April 2009, Ward sued the university in a U.S. district court, attempting to get back into the program, but the court sided with Eastern Michigan. Judge George Caram Steeh awarded EMU a summary judgment before the case went through a full trial.
Ward filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse the summary judgment. The court has not set a date for the appeals hearing, but it is expected later this year.
Ward claimed in the original suit her religious freedom was violated when she was dismissed from her program for passing a client onto someone else after reading his file because he was gay. She and her lawyer said her dismissal violated her First and 14th Amendment rights.
“In the brief filed today, Schuette defends Ward’s religious freedoms, arguing that both the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics and Eastern Michigan University’s own counseling textbooks allow for referrals by counselors,” Schuette’s press release says. “Schuette argues that Ward should not have been denied the opportunity to make a referral and that her dismissal from the program may have violated her constitutional rights.”
But Eastern Michigan still stands by its decision to dismiss Ward from the program and said in a press release, also issued Friday, it is confident the appeals hearing will come to the same conclusion as Steeh did almost one year ago.
“The District Court dismissed the entire case — all six claims against 17 defendants,” Vice President for Communications Walter Kraft said in the press release. “The Court’s ruling reflected strong views on the case, as conveyed in this particular section: “Plaintiff has distorted the facts in this case to support her position that defendants dismissed her due to her religious beliefs.” (Opinion, p. 28.) The brief filed by the Attorney General relied on these factual distortions to support the arguments advanced in its brief.”
Kraft went on to say the university did not decide to dismiss Ward because of her religious beliefs but because she did not follow the curriculum for her program.
“Those Ethical Standards (from the ACA’s Code of Ethics) require that counselors are not to allow their personal values to intrude into their professional work.],” Kraft said.
