Conservative Christian Law Schools

[From PBS's "Religion & Ethics" program:]

Conservative Christian Law Schools
September 16, 2005   Episode no. 903
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week903/feature.html

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Gay marriage and the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are two of many issues on which conservative Christians have strong views. Many of them want to change public policy and the law to better reflect their faith and, to that end in the last decade, they have founded three conservative Christian law schools. There are now more than 2,000 graduates of those schools at work in private practice and in government and politics. Lucky Severson reports.

UNIDENTIFIED PROFESSOR (praying): Heavenly Father, thou has placed me in a church which thy Son has purchased with his own blood.

LUCKY SEVERSON: It's abundantly clear that this is not your typical law school. Each and every class at Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach begins with prayer. And it doesn't end there. This is Dean Jeffrey Brauch.

Dean JEFFREY BRAUCH (Regent University School of Law): We are adding something in addition to what you would get in another law school, and that is Christian thinking on the substance of law and Christian thinking on how to practice law.

SEVERSON: There are about 500 law students at Regent. They learn the law of the land and also a higher law, based on conservative Christian interpretation of biblical principles. If there's a conflict, some might even turn down cases because of their religious beliefs.

(to student Nicole Jocobo): So who is the ultimate judge, as far as you are concerned?

NICOLE JOCOBO (student, Regent University School of Law): God.

SEVERSON: Nicole Jocobo is a third-year student from Florida. Emily Joy Smith is also in her third year. She's from Georgia.

EMILY JOY SMITH (student, Regent University School of Law): I am going to view every perspective, every situation, every client that walks in my office through kind of glasses that are Christ-colored.

SEVERSON: Regent University was founded by Pat Robertson 20 years ago. The law school opened in 1996. Robertson says his overall plan was the Lord's idea -- a way to counter the country's drift toward what Robertson calls "unbridled hedonism" and restore society to what he says were its original Judeo-Christian values.

Reverend PAT ROBERTSON (founder, Regent University): The idea was to challenge the culture in the areas that are most important to people. The first, of course, was television, and then the theatre and journalism, and then, of course, beyond that was law, which has such a dramatic effect on everybody's lives.

SEVERSON: The law school boasts graduates working in all levels of state and federal government, also as judges, prosecutors, state representatives, lawyers for the FBI, CIA, and Justice Department. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft is now part of the Regent faculty.

Rev. ROBERTSON: I was just overwhelmed at the steamroller of the ACLU. And they were just getting away with murder. They were stripping our society of its religious symbolism all the way up and down the line.

SEVERSON: To combat the American Civil Liberties Union, Robertson founded the American Center for Law and Justice -- that's the ACLJ, not the ACLU. The ACLJ has argued and won several cases before the High Court, including the right to organize Bible clubs in public schools. Jay Sekulow, the chief counsel, has been asked by President Bush to help shepherd Judge John Roberts through the confirmation process. Sekulow considers himself a conservative Christian who thinks most law schools are too liberal.

JAY SEKULOW (chief counsel, American Center for Law and Justice): Oh, I think there was a huge need for law schools that have a conservative judicial philosophy to become players in the law school area and the law school arena and to be able to train law students.

SEVERSON: Regent was the first of the conservative Christian law schools but not the last. In Michigan, the Ave Maria Catholic Law School was recently granted accreditation. And the Reverend Jerry Falwell is awaiting accreditation for his new law school at Liberty University. Many conservative Christians see this as a way of getting their values put into law. Others say it's a troubling erosion of the separation of church and state.

Professor Marci Hamilton is a constitutional scholar at the Cardozo School of Law in New York. She clerked for Justice O'Connor and describes herself as a conservative Goldwater Republican and a very religious Presbyterian. She says she once believed in religious liberty at any cost but became disillusioned with abuses in the name of religion.

Professor MARCI HAMILTON (constitutional scholar, Cardozo School of Law): They found their religious power, a cadre of them, conservative Christians. They have decided that the culture doesn't reflect their values, and so they are going to use a law school to inculcate their values.

SEVERSON: Does that trouble you?

Prof. HAMILTON: It's deeply troubling. What they've done is they've now blurred the lines -- forget the separation of church and state.

Dean BRAUCH: It's one thing to have an institutional separation between church and state, which is very important, but it's another thing to say there should be a separation between faith and law or faith and policy. I'm pleased that some of our graduates are going to go and impact public policy through their careers, you know. I'm glad that one of our graduates is running for attorney general in Virginia and may well be the next attorney general in Virginia.

BOB MCDONNELL (candidate, attorney general, VA, campaigning): How are you doing, sir? I'm Bob McDonnell, running for attorney general.

SEVERSON: His name is Bob McDonnell. He's a former lieutenant colonel in the army and has served as a delegate in the Virginia General Assembly. McDonnell personifies the mission of his alma mater.

MCDONNELL: I always try to do the best I can and make sure that my votes reflect the will of the people. But when it comes to certain absolutes like the right to life, the right to individual liberty, or my belief in, you know, what marriage ought to be, I'm going to try to do what I think is the right thing. It may not always be popular, but I think people elect you to be a person of principle.

SEVERSON: And behind Bob McDonnell there are other Regent law students whose religious beliefs drives them to change social policy. Roger Byron, a Naval Academy graduate, plans to go into government, maybe politics.

ROGER BYRON (student, Regent University School of Law): I would approach ROE V. WADE in that -- whereas the Supreme Court did make a decision to apparently legalize abortion that in fact is not a proper law. While the Supreme Court may have said it is one, it does not necessarily mean that it is one.

Prof. HAMILTON: I think there is something wrong if the primary value in the institution is not the rule of law. It is one thing to produce lawyers who will pass the bar and will be representative of a legal society. It's another thing to graduate lobbyists with a certain agenda.

SEVERSON: Hamilton wrote a controversial book called GOD VS. THE GAVEL after arguing successfully before the Supreme Court that Congress had given religious organizations too much power.

Prof. HAMILTON: We've been let down by our legislators who have not been filters; rather, they've been openings for religious groups to get whatever they ask for. What we need is to remind legislators that everybody is served when the common good is served.

Rev. ROBERTSON: It sounds cliché to talk about the struggle for the soul of America, but I do think that struggle has been going on. And I believe the more traditional people of faith seem to be winning some battles in this.

Dean BRAUCH: It's not our sole mission to send people out who are going to affect public policy. I also want men and women who are going to be great lawyers who would have been there to say something when Arthur Anderson or Enron or Tyco or those cases or the decisions made in those situations came up.

SEVERSON: But Dean Brauch is clearly pleased with the school's role in social policy -- proud of the graduate leading the fight for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in Arkansas. Other grads are defending traditional marriage in California.

Dean BRAUCH: Four of our graduates were representing -- represented Terri Schiavo's parents and seeking to keep her alive. And so I was very glad that on that issue, protecting life, there were Regent students there.

Prof. HAMILTON: But what was most interesting about that event was we soon found out between 70 and 80 percent of the American people thought Congress should have stayed out of the issue. What that shows, in my view, is that the conservative Christians may well have been at the apex of their power.

SEVERSON: Pat Robertson believes that the Supreme Court nominations are of crucial importance.

Rev. ROBERTSON: Over a hundred years the impact of the Supreme Court decision will be vastly greater than the impact of Osama bin Laden. He's a temporary annoyance who we are going to get rid of.

SEVERSON: If John Roberts is confirmed as chief justice, he'll be presiding over issues of great concern to Christian conservatives.

Mr. SEKULOW: But, I think, what is realistic on the abortion debate at the Supreme Court of the United States is going to be probably the partial-birth abortion case. I think that one is going to be up there either this term or next.

Prof. HAMILTON: I don't think the court is going to need to hold ROE V. WADE unconstitutional. I don't think they will. But it is very possible that Justice Roberts would legalize a ban on partial-birth abortion, and once that's the line that's drawn, ROE V. WADE is really just a symbol; it's not a right.

SEVERSON: And if Judge Roberts is confirmed, Jay Sekulow will be arguing one of the first cases before the court involving anti-abortion protestors. And there are two more important cases involving parental consent for teenagers seeking abortions and assisted suicide coming up. Lawyers on both sides are working overtime, and in the thick of it are conservative Christian lawyers.
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