ADF urges Biden admin not to reinstitute discrimination against religious students
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake regarding a formal comment ADF attorneys submitted Friday urging the U.S. Department of Education to withdraw its proposed rule that would roll back regulations that protect religious students from being singled out for discrimination at public universities:
“Public universities must allow all students to speak freely, and they must allow student organizations to select their own leaders. As we explain in our comment submitted to the Department of Education, the administration’s plan to rescind critical safeguards that help ensure these rights would endanger the constitutionally protected freedoms of students of all faiths to exercise their religion. Instead, the administration should enforce the existing protections for religious student groups and engage in public outreach to educate students and universities about the importance of the First Amendment. Religious students and student organizations should receive the same rights, benefits, and privileges that are afforded to others.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Julie Marie Blake
Julie Marie Blake serves as senior counsel for regulatory litigation at Alliance Defending Freedom. Over the last decade, she has been on the front lines of high-profile, precedent-setting cases challenging federal overreach in courts across the country. Blake served as deputy solicitor general for the state of Missouri from 2017 to 2020 and as assistant solicitor general for the state of West Virginia from 2013 to 2017. In these roles, she argued 26 federal and state appeals, including before the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. Before entering government service in 2013, Blake was a litigation associate at Baker Botts L.L.P., where she served as volunteer amicus counsel in several ADF cases, including Town of Greece v. Galloway. Following law school, she served as a law clerk for Judge Paul J. Kelly, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Notre Dame Law School in 2009. She received her B.A. in Politics and Theology & Religious Studies phi beta kappa from the Catholic University of America in 2006. She is a 2007 Blackstone Fellow. Blake is admitted to practice in multiple states, the Supreme Court, and in many federal district and appellate courts.